Yahoo News EuroMillions winner, 31, killed pensioner, 75, in Christmas Day BMW crash
A EuroMillions lottery winner killed a pensioner on Christmas Day 2019 after taking his eyes off the road to find his son's teddy, a court has been told.
Matthew Topham, whose £45m win in 2012 reportedly made him the youngest winner of the jackpot in Britain, left Mary Jane Regler with severe chest injuries after crashing into a Ford Fiesta driven by her husband.
He was coming around a bend when he veered to the other side of the road, looking away for "up to three seconds" before attempting to take evasive action.
However, the BMW and Ford crashed and left Regler with fatal injuries and her husband Rodney, 78, was badly hurt. Topham has admitted causing death by careless driving but denied he was driving dangerously.
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Lincoln Crown Court was told that 31-year-old Topham had been visiting his wife's family on 25 December, 2019.
He was traveling in North Cockerington, Lincolnshire, when he reached to the back of his car to find his "upset" son's teddy bear.
The court heard he checked the footwell and found the bear, passing it to his son, but had travelled on to the other side of the road.
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Prosecutor Michael Cranwell-Brown said: "The defendant accepts that he is guilty of driving without due care and attention."
He added: "The prosecution say that it is irrelevant that the cause of not looking where he was going was that his son was upset.
"The prosecution say it would have been obvious to a careful driver that they must keep their eyes on the road at all times.
"He knew that it would not be safe driving along a road and not looking where he was going. He could not just plough on."
Topham, of Swinderby, Lincolnshire, denies causing death by dangerous driving and serious injury by dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
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