A driver has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, having collided with two stationary vehicles while sending a Facebook message.

Wendy Thompson, 53, (12.04.64) a sales representative Barnet by pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Monday, 24 April, to causing death by dangerous driving and to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

She was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment, and was disqualified from driving for ten years.

At approximately 10:40hrs on 3 February 2016, emergency services were called to a collision on the eastbound A406 at the junction with Colney Hatch Lane, Barnet.

A VW Passatt being driven by Wendy Thompson had collided with a Ford Fiesta, which had broken down in lane one, and a red Hyundai Getz that had stopped to provide assistance.

A man and his wife were inside the Hyundai. The 84-year-old driver, Rodney Lewis from Enfield, was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination gave cause of death as head injuries and a broken neck.

Mr Lewis’s 77-year-old wife – a passenger in the Hyundai – was taken to a north London hospital for treatment to a broken hip and pelvis. She has since been discharged from hospital.

Wendy Thompson was not seriously injured in the collision. She was arrested and admitted to police that she had been sending a Facebook message on her phone and trying to plug the phone into a charger when the collision happened.

She was convicted and sentenced as above on Monday, 24 April.