Skip to content

Van driver admits killing parents of two young girls in crash

News imageFamily handout/PA Media Robert and Paula Bateman and their daughters Lexi and ElizabethFamily handout/PA Media
Robert and Paula Bateman were killed in the crash but their daughter Lexi (left) and Elizabeth (bottom) survived

A van driver has admitted causing the deaths of the parents of two young girls while he had drugs in his system.

Robert, 36, and Paula Bateman, 35, died in head-on crash on the A142 in Cambridgeshire just after 20:00 BST on 3 September.

Their daughters Lexi, 10, and 18-month-old Elizabeth survived the collision.

Luke Norton, 31, of Nocton Park Road, Nocton, Lincoln, pleaded guilty causing death by dangerous driving at Peterborough Crown Court.

He also pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with an excess amount of the drug benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of cocaine, in his blood.

News imageFamily handout/PA Media Robert and Paula BatemanFamily handout/PA Media
Robert and Paula Bateman "will be missed by everyone who knew them" their family said

The crash happened when the Batemans' Ford Focus collided with Norton's Iveco Daily van between Chatteris and Mepal.

At the time of their death, the couple from Manea, Cambridgeshire, were described by their family as "utterly devoted parents" and "much-loved friends to many".

Judge Sean Enright remanded Norton in custody to be sentenced on 16 October.

News imagepresentational grey line

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk