A delivery driver who killed a seven-year-old girl in a head-on crash during a dangerous overtake manoeuvre in Lincolnshire has been jailed for six years.
Veselin Dudenski, 39, was out delivering parcels when his white Citroen Relay van struck a blue Kia Rio carrying Elsie Gascoigne in the back seat.
The incident happened in Metheringham Heath Lane, Nocton, on the evening of 3 January this year.
Elsie died the next day in hospital.
Her father, who was driving the car and had taken her shopping and to McDonald’s before the crash, suffered fractures to his breast bone, lower back and arm, including a “major injury with significant long-term implications”.
The defendant, a professional van and lorry driver for 17 years, was banned from driving for eight years during Friday’s sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court.
Dudenski, who the court heard has a young child, is likely to face automatic deportation as he is a foreign national.
He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving in relation to Elsie’s father.
Prosecutor Claire Holmes told the court: “[The defendant] made a dangerous overtake of an unknown vehicle. At the time he overtook this vehicle, he was approaching a hidden dip in the road.
“There were warnings of the dip, namely a road sign and road markings. A careful and competent driver should have been fully aware of the hidden dip.”
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She said a warning sign about a hidden dip stood 425m from the crash site and noted if the defendant had waited to overtake, he would have seen the oncoming Kia.
The hearing was attended by members of Elsie’s family.
In a statement read to the court, Elsie’s parents said she was “bright, loving, funny and full of life”.
“Losing Elsie is not just the loss of a child, it’s the loss of our entire future,” they said.
“We have lost her laughter, her dreams and everything she would have become.”
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Defending Dudenski, Charles Myatt told the court the defendant believed the road was clear as he started the overtake.
Mr Myatt said the defendant was usually a “decent, law-abiding driver” who made a “catastrophic error of judgement”.
