A man who caused the death of a 20-month-old boy by crashing into a stationary car while distracted by TikTok videos on his phone has been sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. Hristo Iliev, 32, from Boston, received the sentence at Lincoln Crown Court following the tragic incident on the A17 near Sleaford.
The court heard that Iliev spent several minutes engaging with content on the social media platform before his Volkswagen collided with the rear of a vehicle at the Holdingham roundabout. Chloe Baker was travelling home from an after-school club with her son, Finley, when her car was struck. The force of the impact propelled her car into another stationary vehicle, leaving Finley unresponsive and a second child in the car unconscious for several minutes.
Finley was airlifted to hospital after the crash, but his life support was tragically withdrawn two days later. His mother, a teaching assistant, described her son as 'her beautiful baby boy' and spoke of the profound grief caused by Iliev's 'reckless choices'. Finley's father, Daniel, told the court that the decision to withdraw his son's life support was one no parent should ever have to make, profoundly altering their lives.
Iliev, a Bulgarian national, had initially denied using his phone and claimed to have maintained a safe distance. However, prosecuting barrister Jeremy Janes revealed that phone analysis proved this was untrue. The investigation showed that in the seven minutes leading up to the collision, Iliev had briefly used the Apple TV app and unlocked his device at least twice to watch TikTok, partially viewing at least six videos.
Judge Simon Hirst, in passing sentence, told Iliev: 'You lied to the police when you denied using your phone. The reason you did not notice the roundabout approach, Mrs Baker braking, Mrs Baker stopping, is because you were using your phone to watch videos.' Iliev had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and a second charge of causing serious injury to Chloe Baker by dangerous driving. He was also disqualified from driving for ten and a half years.