A driver who fatally ran over the mother of the Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman has been jailed for 30 weeks.

Liam Rosney, 33, admitted last month causing the death of Carol Boardman by careless driving in July 2016. On Thursday he was sentenced at Mold crown court and disqualified from driving for 18 and a half months.

Carol Boardman, 75, whose son Chris won gold at the 1992 Olympics, sustained multiple injuries when she was hit by Rosney’s Mitsubishi pickup truck after falling from her bike on a mini-roundabout in Connah’s Quay, north Wales, on 16 July 2016.

The court heard that Rosney took three calls on his mobile phone, which was on speaker, before the crash. His truck did not have a hands-free facility.

The judge Rhys Rowlands said: “This was an accident which could have easily been prevented and your contribution to that accident is significant in as much as you were distracted, the distraction being as a result of you using your mobile phone before the actual collision.

“Any accident which results in someone losing their life is the most appalling tragedy, the more so when the deceased, as here, was well loved and a pretty remarkable woman.”

The court heard that Carol Boardman, who was wearing a helmet and bright clothing, fell from her bicycle on to the road and was run over by Rosney.

Matthew Curtis, prosecuting, said: “It’s clear he was speaking to his wife on the telephone four seconds before the fatal collision and he was, we submit, still distracted by the telephone call and mobile telephone handset.”

One witness, Kayleigh Anders, said Rosney did not seem to realise that he had struck someone.

“As he was driving she saw him looking down on to his lap. He only had one hand on the steering wheel and she formed the impression that he was paying attention to a mobile phone although she did not see one,” Curtis said. “Immediately after the collision she heard him say: ‘Oh my God I have hit her. She came from nowhere.’”

Oliver Jarvis, defending, said Rosney, a joiner from Connah’s Quay, did not “want to make any excuses for his behaviour”. He told the court: “He says that he has destroyed the lives of two families and therefore nothing I say will seek to undermine that guilty plea.”

Jarvis noted that Rosney previously had a clean licence and was driving at an appropriate speed at the time of the crash.

Carol Boardman. Photograph: PA

Speaking before the sentencing, Boardman described the death as “horrifically life-changing” and called for longer bans to deter motorists from breaking the law. He also paid tribute to his mother, herself a talented cyclist, as the person who had inspired his passion for cycling and competition.

“Somebody who takes me swimming in the sea as a kid and races me … on a bike and has grandchildren is just taken away because somebody’s careless, because they used a mobile phone. Our legal system thinks that’s OK, and it’s wrong,” Boardman said. “I’m pretty certain that the death of my mother, which has been horrifically life-changing among all of our family, won’t be enough to change that.”

Boardman said his mother’s death had blighted a number of lives. “My dad’s lost his partner of 50 years, and watching him has been heartbreaking. He’s dealt with it incredibly.”

He said he did not want to see lengthy jail sentences for people convicted of driving offences. However, he added: “I would like to see more driving bans. Driving is a privilege, so I don’t want those people who commit crime – and that’s what this is – become a burden on society. I’d just like them not to be able to do that to anybody else ever again.”

Boardman said in 2017 he tried to avoid riding on Britain’s roads because he felt they had become too dangerous. “The roads are statistically safe, but it doesn’t look it and it doesn’t feel it,” he told the Guardian in an interview to mark his appointment as the first cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester. “Now I try to do more of my riding off-road, which is sad.”