UK News 14-12-2001 Selby Crash Driver Guilty Of Killing 10 who: Motorist Gary Hart what: Convicted of killing 10 people by causing Selby rail crash where: Crown Court, LEEDS when: Yesterday snippet: "A driver described by police as `a mobile catastrophe waiting to happen` today faces up to 10 years in prison," reports David Ward in The Guardian, "after being convicted of falling asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover and causing the death of 10 people in the Selby rail crash." 37 year-old Gary Hart, a construction company manager from Strubby, Lincolnshire, "screwed up his eyes in apparent disbelief and hung his head" when the jury foreman at Leeds Crown Court announced the 10-2 majority decision, says The Telegraph. "He came over as unfeeling, cold and arrogant, as if the court case was an inconvenience to him," says Lee Taylor, whose husband Paul, the driver of a freight train laden with coal, was killed when Hart`s Land Rover veered off the M62 into the path of the 4.45am GNER London-Newcastle express on February 28th. "For him to refuse to admit what happened just makes things worse," she continues, quoted in The Sun. "He could have avoided these deaths and didn`t," says Detective Superintendent Peter McKay, who headed the investigation, quoted in The Mirror. "He set out on that fateful journey from his home address in a sleep-deprived state. He knew he wasn`t fit to drive." [... more]

What The Papers Say is delivered to thousands of readers every morning by web, WAP and email. Sign up today!