A former Eastenders star has been jailed for killing an England cricket star’s mum in a horror Uber crash.
Actor Youssef Berouain smashed into Gus Atkinson’s mum Caroline, 55, as she travelled in an Uber while driving at double the speed limit.
Police only realised he had disappeared seven months after the 2020 crash when they arrived at his London home to arrest him.
The Telegraph reported Berouain was able to flee the country and that Scotland Yard only realised he was gone seven months later when they arrived at his London home to charge him with various offences.
Southwark Crown Court heard Caroline was travelling back from a Christmas night out in an Uber on December 10, 2020, when Berouain’s Audi Q7 hit it.
The actor had been driving at 60mph in a 30mph zone in South West London, before the horror crash.
Caroline couldn’t be saved and was declared dead two hours later.
Police described Berouain smelling of cannabis when they arrived at the scene but he refused to give a roadside sample.
Berouain appeared at Southwark Crown Court and pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and careless driving on June 14.
The actor, who played a teen gang member called Tayo in Eastenders, was sentenced on July 26 where Caroline’s husband Ed read a moving victim impact statement.
The judge said: ‘Her death robbed her of the chance to become a grandmother, and her children and in due course grandchildren are forever deprived of her presence and love as their lives progress.
‘The picture that emerges from these statements is of a formidable woman, fiercely devoted to her children and who stood up for what was right. She was also evidently a community-minded individual.
‘I am very moved by her husband’s description of the street in which she lived being lined by hundreds of friends and mourners on the day of her funeral. That shows that she was a much-loved and respected woman.’
