A retired train driver died after his car struck a stranded vehicle on a motorway shortly before he was expected to undergo treatment for cancer.

Neville Lifton, 79, from Gillingham, suffered fatal injuries when his Kia Picante ploughed into a Vauxhall Corsa at Junction 4 of the M2 on February 16, 2021.

A judge at Maidstone Crown Court said: "He never stood a chance."

The court heard the Corsa driver, Annabelle Moullet had been speeding prior to losing control and colliding with the central reservation barrier.

But the 24-year-old Bluewater retail worker escaped an immediate jail sentence after admitting causing his death by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Daniel Stevenson told how Moullet had been travelling from South East London towards Herne Bay to see her grandparents.

"Mr Lifton had travelled to Maidstone Hospital to undertake a Covid test prior to commencing treatment for lung cancer.

"He was returning to his home address in Gillingham from Maidstone Hospital."

The prosecutor added that telematics data obtained from a box in Moullet's vehicle showed she had broken speed limits on 29 occasions on that journey.

"In particular, the defendant consistently exceeded the speed limit on the M2 motorway prior to the incident and was travelling at 92mph just 1,000 metres prior to the final position of her vehicle."

He added: "At junction 4 the coastbound M2 carriageway goes from a three-lane motorway to a two-lane motorway,with the nearside lane being a dedicated slip lane for traffic turning off the motorway at junction."

An eye-witness, Iain Turnbull later told police: “I was following a dark blue Vauxhall Corsa for quite some time. As we were coming up towards junction 4 coastbound, all of a sudden I saw the Vauxhall Corsa start to pirouette in the outside lane.

"There were no other vehicles around and the Corsa span two-three times and hit nothing and then clipped the outside crash barrier, bounced off it, came back in and then hit it again.

"It was as if the car had hit standing water and aquaplaned, although I didn’t see any water on the road. The Vauxhall was then sat in the outside lane facing oncoming traffic.”

"I suddenly felt not in control. I felt like something pulled, I don’t know why my car swung left. It was a really weird feeling…”

Moullet, of Greening Street, Abbeywood, was taken to hospital where she told a police officer:"“I would probably say I was going over the speed limit, I probably was.

"I just remember, I was just quickly doing something on my phone, either just looking at the map or just changing my song..as I looked up I was driving fine and all of a sudden I don’t know if my car drifted left,

"I suddenly felt not in control. I felt like something pulled, I don’t know why my car swung left. It was a really weird feeling…”.

Mr Lifton's partner, Kelvin Prendergast told the judge in a statement that the former train driver's past-times included golf and playing in a brass band.

He described him as " a gentle, kind and considerate man".

Monica Stevenson, defending said that Moullet "will carry her guilt about what she did for the rest of her life."

Judge Julian Smith gave the retail worker a 21- month jail sentence suspended for two years and banned her from driving for two years.

Moullet was also ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work, pay £1500 in costs and is now subject to a curfew for four months.