Van driver who killed young brother and sister in M4 crash jailed for nine years and four months

A van driver who had been drinking and taken drugs drifted from the outside lane of the M4 and smashed into the back of a stationary car in the hard shoulder – killing two young children and badly injuring their mother. Martin Newman's Ford Transit collided with a vehicle carrying Gracie-Ann Lucas, four, and her three-year-old brother Jayden-Lee Lucas. Both of the siblings were also known by the surname Wheaton.

The crash happened on the M4 westbound carriageway between junctions 28 and 29 in Newport. Gracie-Ann died the day after the crash while Jayden-Lee five days later. The siblings, from Tredegar, were being driven home from a birthday party when the car they were travelling in was struck by a Transit driven by Newman of South Avenue in Croeserw, Cymmer, Neath Port Talbot. An inquest opening heard the children were in a car which was stationary on the hard shoulder.

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The 41-year-old defendant admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He has also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury to the children's mother Rhiannon Lucas by dangerous driving. When he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday after previously being remanded in custody Newman, who sobbed in the dock, also admitted charges of drink-driving and drug-driving.

During Friday's hearing the court was told of Newman's erratic driving in the build-up to the fatal crash. Outlining the facts of the case prosecutor Roger Griffiths said: “At 1.40pm on Saturday, February 5, this year there was a fatal collision between a white Ford Transit van driven by Martin Newman and a red Ford Fiesta containing Adam Saunders, Rhiannon Lucas, and her two children. The Ford Fiesta was