Triple fatal crash driver cleared

Flt Lt Neville Rees, his wife Karen and their son Andrew all died

A lorry driver accused of killing three members of a Lincolnshire family in a road crash has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

Flt Lt Neville Rees, 43, his wife Karen, 41, and their son Andrew, 11, died in the crash near RAF Cranwell.

Neil Margerison, 23, of Ribchester Road, Clayton-Le-Dale, Blackburn, had denied at Lincoln Crown Court causing their deaths on 5 January 2006.

He was found guilty of a lesser charge of careless driving and fined £2,000.

'Sneezed before collision'

Margerison was also disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay £1,000 court costs.

The court heard that the lorry he was driving crashed into a line of stationary traffic on the A15.

Flt Lt Rees' car was squashed between two lorries and was left so crushed some witnesses did not even know it was there.

Margerison said during the trial that he had sneezed just before the collision, but the prosecution insisted he had simply not been paying attention.

'Devastating consequences'

Sentencing Margerison, Judge Michael Heath said: "You are a decent man, 23 years old, with no previous convictions - although you had an endorsement on your licence for a traffic-sign offence.

"My powers are limited to a maximum fine... and disqualifying you from driving but this case will leave its mark on you for a very long time.

"It was a bad case of careless driving, with the devastating consequences we have heard."

Giving evidence, Margerison said he accepted some blame for the tragedy.

"I should have stopped sooner. But I sneezed, and my reactions were slow," he said.

In mitigation the court heard he had suffered emotionally since the accident.

After the verdict, Flt Lt Rees' brother Noel Rees said his entire family had been condemned to a "life sentence" while Margerison walked free.