Men jailed over pregnant mother crash death

Two men have been jailed for causing the death of a pregnant mother in a crash as they towed an unroadworthy van using a makeshift tow-bar.

Lukasz Orywal, 32, and Andy Hurns, 28, were each sentenced to three years and nine months after they admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

The crash, on the A17 in Lincolnshire, occurred when the tow-bar came apart and the vehicles separated.

The towing vehicle hit an oncoming car, killing Aneta Zdeb.

Eyewitnesses told Lincoln Crown Court a Vauxhall Movano van, controlled by Hurns, was swinging from side to side and bumping into the back of a Chrysler Voyager being driven by Orywal.

As the two vehicles sped down a hill at Leadenham, the rigid tow-bar, made from a farm jack, broke, sending Orywal's car spinning on to the opposite carriageway.

It hit a VW Passatt being driven by Kamil Zdeb, 27, who was taking his family from their home in Bradford to visit friends in Spalding, in August last year.

His wife Aneta, 26, who was 14 weeks pregnant, and sitting next to the couple's three-year-old daughter in the rear of the car, suffered injuries to her liver and heart from the impact.

She died later in hospital.

Mr Zdeb was knocked unconscious. His daughter was protected by her child car seat and suffered scratches.

Jon Fountain, prosecuting, said CCTV caught the two men stopping at a petrol station shortly after they left Boston to check the tow-bar.

"They must have been aware of the problems within minutes of setting off," he said.

Hurns was later asked by police if he thought the van was safe. He told officers "it was a pile of shit".

Hurns, 28, of Edgbaston Drive, Retford, and Orywal, 32, of Town Street, Lound, near Retford, were banned from driving for four years and four months and must take extended retests.