A GRIEVING woman said the driver who was using his mobile phone when he killed her partner on the A34 was not a ‘murderer’, but said he would have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life.

Meg Williamson’s boyfriend Gavin Roberts, 28, died in hospital after a Vauxhall Corsa driven by Lewis Stratford crashed through a central reservation on the A34 and smashed into the BMW he was driving head-on in June last year.

Tonight, a meeting between Ms Williamson, an English teacher from Swindon, and 24-year-old Stratford, of Field Avenue, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, will be broadcast by BBC South Today.

Ms Williamson said she did not feel angry any ore about the death of her boyfriend and said she wanted to use her grief and pain to prevent similar tragedies happening again.

She added: “I wanted to meet him [Stratford] straight away when we were at the hospital, but I think at that point it was more anger. “The hardest part was starting the conversation. 

"He is just a normal person. Anybody can make that stupid mistake and can be distracted. He was very compassionate with how he was feeling.”

Ms Williamson said in the programme, which started at 7.30pm last night, how she sat and prayed for Mr Roberts to wake up when he was on a life-support machine.

She said: “Eventually I realised I wanted to meet Lewis. His actions had taken away Gavin. My anger had passed, but I needed to know what had happened.

“I wanted to know what he was thinking, what possessed him to pick up his mobile phone behind the wheel. I wanted to know how he was feeling now.”

Stratford had been involved in ‘emotional phone calls’ moments before a horror crash.

He will be sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday.

Stratford said to Ms Williamson at the meeting: "I’m a normal guy. I’ve been brought up well.

"I went to work five days a week, came home, ate dinner, played darts and bar billiards in the week, went to the football at the weekends and loved my family and friends. But I was on my phone.

"I was making calls to my girlfriend — I was scared of losing her. They were emotional calls; raging calls that shouldn’t have been made that night and I’ve got to live with that for ever, and ever.

"I don’t remember the incident — I have no memory of any of it. But I feel as if I know him. I feel as if I’ve met him thanks to some of the dreams I’ve had.

"Just being in the car, raining, darkness. And his face, his picture — it’s just there.

"He was minding his own business that night. He was just going to work. That’s what I think about all the time. I think about what he must have seen.

"It just makes me feel horrible.

"I know what I’ve done, I know the lives I’ve ruined and I deserve everything I get from whatever comes now, hate, anger . . . I’ve got no excuse for what’s happened and am just so sorry for everything. But sorry’s not enough."