'Selby man's morals not the issue'

The jury in the Selby train crash trial was warned today not to judge the morals of the motorist accused of causing the deaths of 10 people by dangerous driving.

Gary Hart, 37, denies falling asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover after talking for hours on the phone the night before to Kristeen Panter, a woman he knew through an internet dating agency.

In his summing up Mr Justice Mackay told the jury that what Hart had been doing the night before the crash was "the most important issue" for them to consider.

But he said that what Hart and Mrs Panter had been talking about was not for them to consider. "This is a criminal court, not a court of morals," he told the jury at Leeds Crown Court.

Hart, a construction company boss from Strubby in Lincolnshire, denies 10 charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

Six passengers and four rail staff died in the collision in February in North Yorkshire when Hart's Land Rover swerved off the M62 in front of a London-bound express, derailingit into the path of an oncoming freight train. The prosecution claims he fell asleep after staying up all night talking to Mrs Panter. Hart claims something forced his Land Rover to swerve off the motorway.

The judge described how the "three parts of the Selby tragedy", the express, the freight train and Hart's vehicle had all left different locations around the same time, to meet on the line at the village of Great Heck near Selby.

"They were converging like the Titanic and the iceberg," he said.

The trial continues.