Friday 5 August 2022 04:07 PM Speeding drug-driver, 25, who killed a newly married cyclist is jailed for just ... trends now
A speeding drug-driver who ran down and killed a newly married cyclist just seconds after texting a friend while behind the wheel has been jailed for 21 months.
Kornel Marcinek, 25, struck Joe Burton from behind with his BMW while he was high on marijuana and driving at 37mph in a 30 zone along Hill Lane, Southampton, just before 10pm on July 23, 2021.
Just 21 seconds before crashing into his 33-year-old victim, the Polish national was using his phone to send a message leaving him distracted, a court heard.
Marcinek has now been jailed for causing the death of the electrician, who suffered fatal head injuries in the collision, by dangerous driving.
Southampton Crown Court heard Mr Burton had married only three months before he was killed and was 'looking forward to making a life together with his wife'.
In a statement his widow, Anna Torina, said the couple had been hoping to start a family.
She said: 'I never got to say goodbye or tell him I loved him one last time. I don’t really have a reason to get up in the morning.
Kornel Marcinek (left), 25, struck Joe Burton (right) from behind with his BMW while he was high on marijuana and driving at 37mph in a 30 zone along Hill Lane, Southampton, just before 10pm on July 23, 2021
'I’m still feeling too weak to work or even look for a job. I see him in my dreams quite often and that brings comfort and pain. We wanted to have a baby.'
Ms Torina described how they had first met when they were both on holiday in Sri Lanka.
The couple married in April 2021 and decided to move back to his home town of Southampton where they bought a flat.
She said that she can no longer move to the UK from Russia as planned because she could not get a visa following her husband’s death.
Prosecuting, Thomas Wright told the court that Mr Burton was cycling along Hill Lane, Southampton, just before 10pm on July 23, 2021, when Marcinek’s BMW collided with him.
The driver had been at a barbecue earlier that afternoon where he had smoked a cigarette that ‘must have contained some marijuana’ with a friend, the hearing was told.
While driving away from the party, Marcinek sent a text to a friend asking him about some furniture they were moving the next day.
Around 21 seconds after sending the text, the
