A mother was killed while pushing her toddler in a pram when she was struck by crane equipment hanging off a lorry trailer, a court has heard.

Rebecca Ableman, 30, was out with then two-year-old Autumn in the Cambridgeshire village of Willingham when she was hit on the head.

Prosecutor William Carter told a jury that the equipment was not properly secured and was ‘plainly potentially lethal’.

Lorry driver Kevin Miller, 70, denies causing death by dangerous driving and is on trial at Peterborough Crown Court.

The defendant was transporting scrap metal from King’s Lynn docks in Norfolk to two Network Rail depots in Essex and Cambridgeshire on September 22, 2022, jurors were told.

He was driving through Willingham on B1050 road when the loose crane equipment allegedly shifted from its position and was left hanging over the edge of the trailer, dangling in the way of a footpath.

Ms Ableman had just left a farm shop with her daughter when she was hit by the heavy equipment at around 11.15am.

The court heard the NHS healthcare assistant suffered ‘very serious head and brain injuries’. She died three weeks later on October 16 in the neuro intensive care unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Rebecca Ableman, 30, was pushing daughter Autumn, then two, in a pram when she was struck by loose crane equipment on a lorry trailer, the court heard

Lorry driver Kevin Miller, 70, claims he was unaware of the incident until police stopped him more than two hours later. He denies causing death by dangerous driving

Thomas Butler, who was driving along the road at the time of the collision, told the court he had noticed the unsecured equipment.

‘[I] thought it looked horrendous and I told my wife it doesn’t look all right,’ he said.

He then spotted a woman lying on the road with cars that had stopped nearby and there were ‘people running around all over the place’.

Miller, of King’s Lynn, was not arrested until 1.45pm and claimed he had been unaware of the incident, the jury was told.

The prosecutor told the court he said he would have stopped if he had know about it and police officers heard him say: ‘What’s happened mate? I ain’t hit no one.’

The case opened yesterday with a packed courtroom gallery that included several members of Ms Ableman’s family, including her partner Chris Tuczemskyi, 36, a product marketing manager.

Paying tribute to Ms Ableman, who he planned to marry, at the time of her death, he said: ‘To me, she was my light in the darkest of nights, my rock for when I stumbled and my best friend.

‘She made me a better person, she pushed me to be and do better because she could see my potential when I could not.’

Ms Ableman, pictured with daughter Autumn and father Chris Tuczemskyi, 36

An eyewitness to the incident told the court he saw the loose equipment on the lorry and moments later spotted a woman lying in the road with ‘people running around all over the place’  

Mr Tuczemskyi started a fundraising page on GoFundMe in memory of Ms Ableman, who worked in a mental health hospital in Cambridge, with funds going to East Anglian Air Ambulance and Addenbrooke’s Neuro ICU. It has received more than £18,000 to date.

He was also raising funds for Autumn to explore the world and create a memorial bench for her late mother. 

She had her first day at Willingham Primary School in September last year. 

The trial continues.