A Brecon man has told of his heartbreak after his wife was killed by a motorist sending cheeky monkey emojis at the wheel.

Grandmother Diane Price, 57, died when the young woman was distracted by a message flashing up on Facebook.

Gemma Evans, 23, was jailed for six months for causing Diane’s death by careless driving.

A court heard she sent and received messages with "cheeky monkey" emojis while driving to work.

Her car suddenly veered across the carriageway smashing into mother-of-two Diane's Rover 25. She was killed outright.

Mr Price, 76, said: "I didn’t believe it until I went to identify her body in hospital.

"I just kept saying ’come on now Di, let’s go home’.

"I said: "Look, if I could change places with you I would do that".

"She didn’t have any marks on her face. She had a scratch on her chin from the airbag that caught her on the chin.

"As for the rest of her body - that was in hell of a mess."

A jury cleared Evans of causing death by dangerous driving because they couldn’t be sure if she was driving or stationary when the messages were sent and received.

Retired lorry driver Tony said: "Six months is nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"We don’t want vengeance, we want justice for Diane.

"Gemma Evans will be out in three months and able to get on with her life - but Diane’s life is over for the sake of a mobile phone message."

Mr Price said:"We want some good to come out of this tragedy - we want tragic accidents to be prevented and lives to be saved."

Auxiliary nurse Diane was driving home from caring for her 88-year-old father when Evans’s black Mini ploughed into her Rover 25 on the A40 at Llanspyddid.

Mr Price, who lives two miles away from the crash scene, said: "I heard the sirens going past and of course I knew Diane was on the road at that time.

"It was only a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and I could see a police officer in a fluorescent jacket through the window.

"I remember thinking to myself: "This doesn’t look good."

The accident happened on the first Friday of December 2016 - Diane had been due to go Christmas shopping with a friend later that day.

He funeral was held the day before Christmas Eve and the family now faces the second anniversary of the tragedy after waiting almost two years to see Evans jailed.

Mr Price said the mobile phone culture will have to change to prevent more deaths on the road. He said: "Until there’s a total ban on using handheld mobiles in cars there will be more tragedies."

Diane was described as a real "Welsh Valleys mam" - she was the central figure in her family which included 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Her heartbroken daughter Nina, 39, said: "We miss her everyday, we will never get over it.

"We were all gobsmacked that she got away with causing death by dangerous driving but we were told the difference between that and careless driving is paper thin.

"I accept its human nature, we’ve all done it. But we are campaigning for people to stop - you only need to take your eyes off the road for three seconds for something dreadful like this to happen."

Evans, of Brecon, claimed her mobile was in the car’s cup holder and she didn’t use it during her journey.

But police found cheeky monkey, heart and thumbs up emojis on messages sent and received by her mobile phone.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the mobile phone was an "obvious factor" in the fatal crash.

Judge Patrick Curran said: "The jury may have thought it a reasonable possibility that she was distracted by the light coming on when a message came through and that caused the swerve.

"It’s another illustration as to why people at all when they are in a motor vehicle should not have mobile phones switched on.

"The potential for appalling accidents such as these is obvious."