An HGV driver who was dazzled by the sun while talking on his hands free phone to his wife has been jailed after he hit a cyclist and killed her.

Marek Witulski received an eight-month sentence for causing death by careless driving and was also disqualified from driving for two years and four months following the incident in December 2018.

An investigation by Cambridgeshire police found that the lorry driver had been speaking to his wife on a hands free phone at the time his vehicle struck the handlebars of Hilary Cox’s bike.

In addition, he admitted in interview that the sun was bouncing off the wet road on the A141 near Chatteris and had impaired his vision, but he made no attempt to rectify the situation.

The impact caused Cox to fall from her bike onto the road, resulting in a significant head injury. She died in Addenbrookes hospital the next day.

Sergeant Mark Dollard said: “Witulski was driving his HGV on a particularly sunny day, causing him to be dazzled. Instead of taking additional precautions he continued to drive as he would normally.

“It is accepted his phone was on loud speaker and was being used hands free, but he is going to have to spend the rest of his life wondering if this distraction caused him to not see Mrs Cox.”