Delivery driver who killed girl, seven, in head-on crash jailed for six years

A delivery driver who killed a seven-year-old girl in a head-on crash during a dangerous overtake has been jailed for six years.

Veselin Dudenski, 39, was delivering parcels when he smashed his white Citroen Relay van into a blue Kia Rio containing rear passenger Elsie Gascoigne on the evening of January 3 this year in Metheringham Heath Lane, Nocton, Lincolnshire.

Elsie died the next day in hospital while her father, who was driving the car, was left with permanent injuries.

The defendant, who has been driving vans and lorries professionally for 17 years, was disqualified from driving for eight years at the sentencing hearing at Lincoln Crown Court, sitting at the city’s magistrates’ court, on Friday.

Dudenski, who the court heard has a young child, was also told that he is liable to automatic deportation because he is a foreign national.

He wore a blue and white striped shirt and jeans in the dock and sat with his head down throughout the hearing, which was attended by members of Elsie’s family.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving in relation to Elsie’s father.

Prosecutor Claire Holmes told the court: “(The defendant) made a dangerous overtake of an unknown vehicle. At the time he overtook this vehicle, he was approaching a hidden dip in the road.”

She continued: “The defendant moved into the Kia’s lane, resulting in a head-on collision between the white van and the blue Kia.

“There were warnings of the dip, namely a road sign and road markings. A careful and competent driver should have been fully aware of the hidden dip.”

The barrister told the court there was a sign warning of the hidden dip 425 metres from where the collision happened on the single carriageway road.

She added that had the defendant waited to overtake, he would have been aware of the Kia travelling on the opposite side of the road.

In a statement read to the court, Elsie’s parents said she was “bright, loving, funny and full of life”.

They added: “Losing Elsie is not just the loss of a child, it’s the loss of our entire future.

“We have lost her laughter, her dreams and everything she would have become.”

They added that Elsie was the centre of her father’s world, and their bond had been “shattered”.

The court heard Elsie’s father, who had taken her shopping and to McDonald’s before the crash, suffered fractures to his breast bone, lower back and arm, including a “major injury with significant long-term implications”.

Defending Dudenski, Charles Myatt told the court: “(The defendant) felt, believed, that the road was clear as he started the overtake.”

The barrister continued: “He did not believe there was a hidden dip there. His genuine belief was that, yes, the road has hidden dips but that is further along.

“His gross mistake was to not observe the sign.”

Mr Myatt said the defendant was usually a “decent, law-abiding driver” who made a “catastrophic error of judgement”.

The court heard that the delivery driver, of Cherry Avenue, Branston, Lincolnshire, was not distracted, speeding or intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told the defendant: “You simply did not take the time and care you needed to ensure that when you crossed the centre line into the other carriageway it was clear.”

Detective sergeant Kate Johnston of Lincolnshire Police said: “This has been a distressing investigation, involving the tragic loss of a young child.

“No outcome can ever reflect the terrible pain that is felt by Elsie’s family and friends following her death.

“Dudenski’s decision to carry out an overtaking manoeuvre on a dark undulating road has ended with the worst of all outcomes.”