A MAN has been jailed for killing a six-year-old girl in a horror traffic collision that left two other children with serious injuries.
Millie Joy Gribble was hit by a flat-bed truck as she stepped off a bus in Bilsborrow, Lancashire, on August 25, 2023.
The 61-year-old man behind the wheel of the white Iveco Daily truck that killed the youngster – Stephen Worden – has today been jailed for causing death by careless driving.
Worden’s truck slammed into a stationary double-decker bus before mounting a grass verge and hitting three children who had just stepped off the bus.
Millie, who was taken to Alder Hey Hospital with a catastrophic head injury, tragically died six days later.
Her parents were by her bedside.
The two other children – a boy now aged 16 and a girl now aged 15 – were left with serious injuries, but thankfully they recovered.
Worden was later charged with causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Following a trial in October, Worden was found not guilty of the three offences.
However, he had earlier pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving.
Worden was sentenced in court yesterday to 12 months’ immediate custody; he was also disqualified from driving for two years.
In a personal statement made to Preston Crown Court, Millie’s dad said: “Millie was my heartbeat, my world, my reason to improve my life in every way. The pain and the heartbreak of losing Millie cannot be put into words, but I will do my best.
“Millie was so close to all our family and the apple of my eye. Millie was my world, and we did everything together, from playing football, swimming, new adventures and movie nights when she was with me.
“Millie could do no wrong in my eyes, with her mischievous and yet loving nature.
“I am so proud to call Millie my daughter and always will be. Millie was adored by everyone who met her.”
Millie’s mum, Sam Edmundson wrote: “I am mummy to Millie Joy Gribble the most beautiful six-year-old girl you could ever wish to meet, a little girl with a head full of thick, long, dark brown hair, gorgeous big blue eyes with a twinkle in them, and a big cheeky smile that would melt your heart.
“Millie was someone who could light up a room simply by just walking in it. Everyone knew Millie and everyone loved Millie.”
Sgt Martin Wilcock, a Senior Investigating Officer at our Road Policing Unit, said: “While I know today’s media focus will be on Worden and the sentence he has received, my thoughts are very much with Millie and her loved ones.
“Millie’s death has had and continues to have a profound impact on her family.
“It is clear to me that if you knew Millie, you loved her. And she is someone who is incredibly missed.
“While it is not for me to comment on a sentencing, I hope Millie’s tragic death will focus people’s minds on the dangers of careless driving.”
