Woman was looking at Barbie app on mobile phone before fatal crash

A woman who killed a man in a head-on collision was distracted by looking at a Barbie app on a mobile phone.

Bekki Mills, 25, of Sandy Lane in Verwood, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.

She was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court to an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 200 hours community work and handed a two-year disqualification from driving. She was told she would need to take an extended driving test before she could get her licence back.

The court heard that at around 3.09pm on Monday 9 November 2015 Mills was driving her red Audi A4 along the A350 at Kites Hill, Blandford, with her two children.

Due to being distracted by a mobile phone, Mills crossed over to the other side of the carriageway and clipped a Ford Galaxy coming the other way before colliding head-on with a Peugeot 3008.

The passenger in the Peugeot – 86-year-old Joseph Willis from Shillingstone – died as a result of the collision.

While being treated at the scene, two police officers overheard Mills say: "I was looking at my daughter's phone when I went to overtake," and "It's my fault, I was looking at something on my daughter's phone."

The mobile phone was examined and it was found that at the time of the collision a Barbie app was running on the phone.

The 64-year-old female driver of the Peugeot suffered a punctured lung, broken rib and bruising. The 41-year-old male driver of the Ford from Shaftesbury sustained bruising. Mills had an open fracture to her lower left leg, lacerations to her right leg and broken ribs. The children were uninjured.