Selby crash driver found guilty

Motorist Gary Hart is facing a long jail term tonight after being found guilty of causing the deaths of 10 men in the Selby train disaster after falling asleep at the wheel.

Hart, 37, who could spend up to 10 years in jail, fought back tears and his legs buckled as the foreman of the jury at Leeds Crown Court returned its verdicts on 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Hart's wife Elaine, 38, burst into tears.

Mr Justice Mackay, who will sentence Hart in January after reading medical reports, released him on bail until then, but he said: "You do not need me to tell you that you stand in peril of going to prison and going to prison for a substantial period."

The judge went on: "My mind is not closed to alternatives but in effect it is inevitable in a case of this enormity and magnitude."

Survivors and relatives of the dead held each other closely and wept quietly when the 10-2 majority verdicts were given after 11 hours of deliberation.

Hart, a father of four from Strubby, Lincolnshire, fell asleep at the wheel on the M62 near Great Heck, north Yorkshire, on 28 February. The construction contractor had been exhausted after spending five hours on the telephone the previous night to a woman, Kristeen Panter, who had answered a personal advertisement he had placed on the internet.

He eventually admitted to officers that he only had between 45 minutes and an hour's sleep in the 24 hours before the crash. Sleep expert Professor James Horne said Hart must have known he was falling asleep. Yet he did not stop.

His Land Rover and trailer, carrying a Renault estate car, ploughed down the embankment into the path of a Great North Eastern Railway express, travelling at 117mph, just after 6.10am, triggering a sequence of events Mr Justice Mackay likened to "the Titanic converging on the iceberg".

The GNER derailed but stayed upright for 500 yards until it collided head-on with an oncoming freight train laden with coal. Six passengers, three GNER staff and one of the drivers of the freight train were killed.

Seventy-six people were taken to hospital with a range of injuries.

The court had heard a recording of the 999 call that Hart made to the police. In it the sound of the 4.45am Newcastle to King's Cross express thundering into his Land Rover can clearly be heard.

Hart denied the charges. He claimed he heard a bang and swerved uncontrollably off the motorway. He said that far from being tired, he was "buzzing with excitement" at the prospect of meeting his new girlfriend that night.

He arrogantly claimed he could go 36 hours without sleep, "no problems".

However, when police examined almost every mechanical part of the Land Rover they found nothing wrong. They also discovered it had left the motorway at a shallow angle and there were no signs that Hart had braked or swerved.

Mr Justice Mackay said: "Everyone who has watched and listened to this case has done so over two weeks with complete restraint and everyone has shown respect."

The victims were: engineer Alan Ensor, 44, IT manager Robert Shakespeare, 43, logistics expert Barry Needham, 40, freight train driver Stephen Dunn, 39, express train driver John Weddle, 42, train chef Paul Taylor, 42, express train conductor Raymond Robson, 43, church warden Christopher Terry, 30, clinical psychologist Professor Steve Baldwin, 44, and business manager Clive Vidgen, 39.

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Talk about the verdict