![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Kevin-Miller-court-case.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRebecca Ableman was described as a ‘fantastic mother’, who ‘died a hero’ trying to save her daughter<\/p>\n
Rebecca Ableman died after being hit in the back of her head(Image: Cambridgeshire Police\/PA Wire )<\/p>\n
A lorry driver has been jailed for 13 months for causing the death of a mother pushing a pram, who was struck on the head by part of his vehicle\u2019s loader crane.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Ableman, 30, had been out shopping at a local farm shop before she was struck on the head from behind by the grab of Kevin Miller\u2019s lorry in Willingham, Cambridgeshire in 2022.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old mum was described by her father as a ‘fantastic mother’, whose final act was to protect her daughter, adding that she ‘saved’ her life and ‘died a hero’.<\/p>\n
Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/p>\n Peterborough Crown Court heard that the boom on 71-year-old Miller\u2019s loader crane \u201cslew\u201d to the nearside as he drove through the village. William Carter, prosecuting, told the court that the grab struck Ms Ableman \u201cin the head from behind\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe suffered catastrophic head and brain injuries from which she died on October 16 2022,\u201d he said. \u201cThe prosecution case is that it was his failure adequately to secure the boom of his loader crane that amounted to carelessness in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Miller, 71, has been sentenced to 13 months in prison for causing the death of 30-year-old Rebecca Ableman(Image: Cambridgeshire Police\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n Mr Carter said that on the day of the incident, September 22 2022, Miller, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at an earlier hearing, had set out from his depot in King\u2019s Lynn at around 3.40am and travelled to a Network Rail yard in Leigh on Sea in Essex.<\/p>\n Miller, who was convicted for causing death by careless driving, collected \u201cabout 18 tonnes of scrap metal in the form of disused railway track\u201d, the prosecutor said, and travelled through Willingham on his journey back.<\/p>\n Mr Carter said the speed limit of the B1050 where the incident happened was 30mph, and Miller\u2019s tachograph indicated he had been travelling at about that speed.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Miller drove on apparently completely unaware that anything untoward had happened,\u201d said Mr Carter.<\/p>\n He said Miller stopped at the roadside further on and used the crane controls to move the crane back to the middle of the lorry mechanically. He told police in a later interview he had \u201cbecome aware as he had seen it in his mirrors that the grab had moved over to the side of his trailer\u201d.<\/p>\n Get MEN Premium now for just \u00a31 HERE<\/a> \u2013 or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE<\/a><\/p>\n He had continued back to King\u2019s Lynn, stopping in the town of March on the way to unload scrap metal. Police identified the lorry involved in the collision and got to the yard in King\u2019s Lynn at just before 2pm.<\/p>\n Miller, of Gayton Road, King\u2019s Lynn, Norfolk, told officers \u201cwhat\u2019s happened mate? I ain\u2019t hit no-one mate\u201d, Mr Carter said.<\/p>\n The prosecutor said: \u201cHe had not taken what the Crown submit was an elementary precaution of strapping the crane boom down separately.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that \u201call that was required was further strapping which can very easily be thrown over the boom and then tightened\u201d.<\/p>\n Rebecca Ableman died after being hit in the back of her head(Image: Cambridgeshire Police\/PA Wire )<\/p>\n Judge Matthew Lowe, sentencing, said: \u201cTo have secured the crane unit would have been the work of moments. This tragedy could have so easily been avoided but it wasn\u2019t through the failure of this defendant to take the most basic and elementary of steps.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Miller \u201cassumed the crane hydraulics would be sufficient to prevent movement as it pinched the load\u201d.<\/p>\n The judge said the defendant \u201cassumed the load itself wouldn\u2019t shift in transit\u201d but the grabber unit moved to protrude over the nearside edge of the trailer.<\/p>\n \u201cThis first happened a relatively short distance and time before the grabber collided with Rebecca,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said Ms Ableman was on the pavement pushing her daughter in a pram.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no suggestion Mr Miller knew of the collision until significantly later,\u201d he said. \u201cHe did become aware shortly later that the grabber had moved. He pulled over to use the controls for the grabber unit to put it back in place.\u201d<\/p>\n He sentenced Miller to 13 months in prison, of which he will serve no more than half before he is released. The judge banned Miller from driving for two years, with an extension of six and a half months to cover the time he is in prison.<\/p>\n Miller looked straight ahead and appeared to take a deep breath as his sentence was read out. Russell Ableman described his daughter Rebecca as a \u201cfantastic mother\u201d to her young daughter in a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecutor.<\/p>\n![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776227111_306_0_Kevin-Miller-court-case.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776227112_619_0_Kevin-Miller-court-case.jpg\")
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