Selby crash driver on day release

Gary Hart was sentenced to five years in prison

The driver who caused the deaths of ten people in the Selby rail crash has been allowed out of jail on day release, the prison service has confirmed.

Gary Hart, 38, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, is serving a five-year jail sentence at North Sea Camp open prison in Boston for causing death by dangerous driving.

Photographs of Hart strolling around the Lincolnshire village where his mother lives have been published in a Sunday newspaper.

He has served 18 months of his sentence.

A prison service spokeswoman told BBC News Online there was nothing unusual in a prisoner like Hart being allowed out.

She said: "It is standard practise for people in open conditions at this stage of their sentence to apply for day release as part of their resettlement."

Prisoners awarded a "facility licence" are usually released twice a month.

The News of the World reported that Hart was released at 0830 BST on Saturday.

He was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of causing the Selby rail crash after his Land Rover and trailer plunged off the M62 motorway onto the East Coast main line at Great Heck on 28 February 2001.

Ten people were killed and more than 70 people injured in the ensuing collision between a GNER express and a coal train.

Mr Justice Mackay described the Selby rail crash as "the worst driving-related incident in the UK in recent years".