Daughter who lost both parents when Romanian driver killed them in motorway fireball as he trawled adult sites at the wheel reveals what she said to him in emotional jail meeting
Published: 14:41, 28 August 2024 | Updated: 15:08, 28 August 2024
A lorry driver who killed three people while trawling adult dating sites behind the wheel has met the daughter of his victims.
Ion Nicu Onut ploughed into stationary traffic on the A1 near Country Durham in July 2021, fatally hitting the vehicles of Paul Mullen and couple David Daglish, 57, and Elaine Sullivan, 59.
The Romanian had been looking at profiles and editing his own on sites S**g Today and Mystic Match over a period of 40 minutes leading up to the smash.
His last interaction on his phone was in the seconds before the collision and he was ‘utterly oblivious’ to the stationary vehicles ahead, the court was told. Onut did not brake before driving into the line of traffic at 58mph.
Over two-and-a-half years later, David and Elaine’s daughter Marie Johnson met with the man who killed her parents.
Recalling what she told Onut at the meeting, Ms Johnson said: ‘If my mum and dad were here now, they would have given you a cuddle. They would want us to do this and they would have forgiven you as well.’
David and Elaine’s daughter Marie Johnson met with Ion Nicu Onut – the man who drove his lorry into the back of their car in July 2021
Ms Johnson said it was like ‘having a conversation with a friend’ rather than her parent’s killer
She added: ‘I shouldn’t want to make him feel better but also I didn’t want him to carry this burden with him.
‘I wanted to see for myself whether he was being true.’
Ms Johnson revealed that her partner questioned why she wanted to meet the man that killed her parents – but she didn’t see him as the ‘man that killed my parents’.
She said it was like ‘having a conversation with a friend about what you’d been through’.
Onut was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison after admitting three counts of death by dangerous driving at Durham Crown Court in January 2022.
He first hit the back of the Vauxhall Crossland containing Mr Daglish, 57, and Ms Sullivan, 59, then smashed 51-year-old Mr Mullen’s Toyota Hilux under another lorry before carrying on along the road, injuring three others.
One of those injured and hospitalised was Molly Smith, a physiotherapist who was 26-weeks pregnant at the time.
Ms Smith was buying presents for her dog for his birthday when the traffic started slowing down due to an early incident.
She stopped her car like other drivers but Onut did not stop.
She told the BBC: ‘I just felt this impact from behind [while driving the red car, which is seen being hit in the footage].
‘I just remember hearing all of a sudden the crashing sounds of metal.
‘And then all of a sudden being stopped on the A1(M) with a load of fire all around me.’
She added at first she froze before moving away from the fire as she did not if more cars were going to ‘explode’.
The physiotherapist has since given birth to a healthy daughter.
Onut, who agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver, wept and acknowledged he could have travelled several hundred yards while looking at his phone.
Onut said: ‘The phone was a distraction, it was a really bad choice.’
He continued that after seeing the footage of him ploughing into cars he is really ‘disturbed’ that he caused the ‘tragic and sad’ deaths of three people.
‘I have to pay for my mistake,’ he said.
Ion Nicu Onut ploughed into stationary traffic on the A1 near Country Durham in July 2021
Lorry driver Ion Onut was looking at sex sites on his phone when he caused a multi-vehicle smash which killed three people including David Daglish (left) and Elaine Sullivan (right)
Ion Onut (left) was driving a 3.5 tonne Scania LGV at almost 60mph when he ‘ploughed’ into queueing traffic near junction 61 at Bowburn, County Durham, on July 15, last year, killing three people including Paul Mullen (right)
Molly Smith, a 26-weeks pregnant physiotherapist, (pictured with her baby) was hospitalised after the crash
Onut who agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver wept and acknowledged he could have travelled several hundred yards while looking at his phone
Onut answered ‘no comment’ when he was interviewed by police after being arrested for driving
Asked if he had a message for the bereaved families, he sighed and replied: ‘There’s a million things I could tell people.
I want to apologise.
I want to say I’m really sorry, because I feel really bad for what happened.
‘I feel bad for the people who lost loved ones, people injured who have to suffer with back flashes (flashbacks) and injuries for the rest of their lives.
‘It’s really hard to accept that, living for the rest of your life with that in your head is not easy either.’
Sh*g Today and Mystic Match: The apps trucker was looking at before crash
Sh*g Today: UK-based hookup site that claims to have had more than 400,000 users signing up.
After setting up a profile, you can match with other users and chat to arrange a meet-up.
While it is free to receive messages, users have to buy credits to send messages to others on the site.
Packages range from GBP24.95 for 1250 credits, up to GBP249.95 for 17,500 credits.
It costs 100 credits to send a message and 50 to send a wink.
The site is open to straight or homosexual relationships, but reviewers say many of the users are paid professionals.
Rated 1.8 out of five on Trustpilot.
Mystic Match: Advertises itself as a website for people seeking ‘friendship and love’.
The website claims thousands join every day looking for different kinds of discreet relationships.
It works in a similar way to Sh*g Today, with users having to buy coins to send messages.
Rated 2.6 out of five on Trustpilot.
References
- ^ Emily Cooper (www.dailymail.co.uk)