Grandfather slams sentence given to lorry driver over M6 crash
A grandfather said justice had not been done today after a foreign lorry driver who "butchered" six members of his family in a motorway crash was jailed for less than three years.
After the sentencing, Peter Hagans compared the trial of Paulo Jorge Nogueira da Silva to a "circus" and added "our hearts have been broken".
Michelle Statham, 33, a financial advisor, husband, David, 38, a chef, and their children, sons Reece, 13, Jay, nine, Mason, 20 months and 10-week-old baby daughter Ellouise were killed instantly in the crash.
Their Toyota people carrier exploded in a fireball as it was hit by da Silva's 40-tonne lorry from behind and shunted under another lorry queuing in front of them.
Da Silva, 46, who will be released in less than 18 months, was found guilty today at Chester Crown Court of six counts of causing the death by careless driving of the Statham family.
He was cleared by a jury of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
Mr Justice Irwin jailed him for three years on each count of careless driving, all to run concurrent, with da Silva serving less than half the sentence in jail before he will be released on licence.
The trial heard da Silva may have been using a laptop in his cab to navigate his route and missed motorway signs warning of queuing traffic ahead.
He had simply been careless and not paying attention, the jury were told.
Mr Hagans said: "From the night of the accident when Mr da Silva butchered our family it was not possible for us to get justice in a British court.
"In our opinion what we sat through this week was no more than a circus, the only difference being the man in charge of a circus wears a top hat not a wig.
"Our lives have been devastated, nothing will ever be the same for us, our hearts have been broken.
"The many tributes to Michelle, Dave and the children have made us realise just how much this tragedy has affected people from all over the country."
Mrs Statham was driving her family home to Llandudno, North Wales after spending a weekend with her parents, when the accident happened on the M6 at Sandbach, Cheshire, last October.
Baby Ellouise was next to her mother in a baby seat on the front passenger seat.
In the middle row of the seven-seat Toyota was Mr Statham and toddler Mason. The two older boys were in the back row of seats.
