Blackburn man failed for causing the deaths of two young women in Preston by dangerous driving
"No text message was so urgent that it was worth the lives of these two young women.''
A distracted motorist who mowed down and killed two women while checking his mobile phone has been jailed for six years.
Mohmed Patel, 26, did not see Shelby Maher, 17, and Rachel Murphy, 23, when they crossed the road in clear sight in Preston, Lancashire, as he was more interested in finding out a reply to a text message he sent to his girlfriend moments before.
Sentencing at Preston Crown Court, Judge Robert Altham told the accountant: No text message was so urgent that it was worth the lives of these two young women.''
Miss Murphy was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision with the defendant's BMW 3 Series in the early evening of April 20 2016, while Miss Maher died several hours later in hospital.
Another teenage girl in the group of five friends crossing the A59 Brockholes Brow off the M6 motorway was seriously injured and was in hospital for a week.
Patel, from Blackburn, Lancashire, was found guilty on Monday of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
He had admitted his driving - while taking his mother and sister on a shopping trip - was careless but denied it was dangerous.
An examination of Patel's iPhone 6 revealed he sent two text messages to his girlfriend at 6.12pm on April 20 asking her whereabouts.
At 6.37pm she replied yeah at mate's'' to which he swiftly responded:Her house?''.
His trial heard that 42 seconds after that text he was calling 999 from the scene after the fatal collision.
Patel, of Carham Road, said he sent that message while stationary at a nearby set of traffic lights and then put his phone back in the driver's side pocket.
But another motorist said Patel overtook him shortly before the incident and that when he glanced across he saw Patel holding a mobile phone in his hand as he rested it on the steering wheel.
Judge Altham said: This was plainly an avoidable distraction. So distracted was he that at the point of collision he may as well have been driving with his eyes closed.
He deliberately concentrated on his phone rather than the road ahead. He was not on the phone in terms of speaking on it but he was sufficiently distracted that he did not see what was absolutely obvious in front of him.''
The judge added that he was satisfied the defendant had been distracted by his phone for a considerable period of time'' before the collision.
He said Patel had shown no significant remorse'' but rathersadness for the predicament he now finds himself in''.
The judge noted Patel received a fixed penalty notice in 2014 for using a mobile phone while manoeuvring around a car park.
He said: Whatever the circumstances, it was the clearest possible indication of the importance of not using a mobile phone in the car. An indication he would have done very well to heed. He ignored it.''
Prosecutor Francis McEntee read out part of the victim impact statements from the mothers of the two victims from Preston.
Miss Murphy's mother, Helen, said: I cannot accept she has gone. I suffer all day, every day.
Our lives have been completely devastated by the actions of the driver of that car on that day. He is responsible for ruining all our lives.''
Miss Maher's mother, Melanie, said: Shelby's death has hit both me and my family hard. It has destroyed me that I will never see her grow up.
I will never be able to forgive the driver for taking such a lovely, caring young girl from us.''
Patel, who was tearful in the dock, was also banned from driving for nine years.
He was convicted after a retrial when a jury earlier in the year could not reach verdicts