I met my parents' killer - Woman forgives lorry driver who killed her mum and dad

A woman has bravely met the lorry driver who caused a catastrophic motorway collision that killed both her parents - and says he’s “just a normal man… I was able to forgive him”.

In March this year, Marie Johnson spoke with Ion Nicu Onut - the man who caused the crash after failing to stop for stationary traffic on the A1 (M) in 2021- killing three people and injuring several others.

Onut’s vehicle had been travelling at 58mph when it struck another HGV and four cars before coming to a stop at the central reservation and bursting into flames. He had been using his mobile phone.

Onut was charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving, which he admitted, and was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison. He was also disqualified from driving for more than 14 years.

In an interview recorded after Johnson and Onut met, she said: “I wanted him to be a monster. I wanted him to be this horrible, nasty man and when you meet him you go, well you’re not, but why are you not? Why are you not this person that I wanted you to be? You’re just a normal man.

“The way I would describe it was like sitting with a friend having a conversation about what you'd been through and in my mind, I never gave it a thought that this man killed my parents. In another lifetime, we could have been friends. There was no aggression in the conversation that we had. It was an accident.

“I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because I was able to forgive him. From day one, I said I didn’t hate him and I chose not to hate him simply and solely because if you carry hate with you it wears you down. It was just like a release. It was over.

“I said to him, ‘If my mam and dad were here now, they’d have given you a cuddle. They would want us to do this, and they would have forgiven you as well’. I’ve got the opportunity. I shouldn’t want to make him feel better, but I also didn’t want him to carry this burden.

“I’d like to think the documentary had an impact on people but when I walk to school every morning and watch how many people in that rush hour are using their mobiles - put your phones away because it happens to normal people.”