MEMBERS of the jury in the Selby train crash trial were today continuing to consider their verdicts.

They left Courtroom Number Five at Leeds Crown Court yesterday at 12.52pm. Three hours and 23 minutes later, at 4.15pm, Mr Justice Mackay sent them home for the night.

The 12 men and women were due back in court at about 10am today. They must decide if Gary Neil Hart, 37, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, is guilty or not guilty of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving. The prosecution alleges that he fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover before it slid off the M62 motorway on to the East Coast Main Line, near Great Heck, on February 28.

Moments later a GNER express train collided with it, was derailed and collided with a Freightliner coal train. Both train drivers, two other train staff, and six passengers, died in the crash. Hart denies the charges. He says he was awake and the Land Rover suddenly veered off the road despite all he could do to keep it on the motorway.

Updated: 15:07 Wednesday, December 12, 2001