THE guilt a motorist feels after causing the death of his own mother in a car accident is worse than any punishment a judge could impose, a court heard.

Josephine Smith died in hospital five days after her son Andrew’s car hit a lorry on the A1 motorway near Sedgefield, County Durham, last June.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard that Smith, 52, from Druridge Drive in North Fenham, Newcastle, admitted causing her death by careless driving.

Deborah Hodge, prosecuting, said Smith was driving his mother, who lived in the Manchester area, to Newcastle for a short break on June 20, 2012.

His wife, Carol, was also in the car.

“He momentarily bent down to pick up a sweet and ceased to keep his eye on the road, the next he knew he was right in the back of a lorry,” said Mrs Hodge.

Two motorists stopped to help everyone to safety, shortly before the car burst into flames.

Mrs Smith, who had existing ailments, was taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, with broken ribs which led to a chest infection that caused her death on June 25.

In A statement read out in court, Smith’s older brother, Alan, said: “He is living a sentence already, I feel some punishment should be given but I cannot see any good in prison.”

District Judge Martin Walker said: “What punishment is greater or will have more effect than the punishment he inflicts upon himself by guilt or because of the loss of his mother?”

Smith was given a three year conditional discharge, disqualified from driving for a year and ordered to pay £85 costs.