THE victims of the Selby rail crash were unlawfully killed, the jury at the inquest into the disaster decided unanimously today.

After four days of hearing at times harrowing evidence, the five men and six women at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, took three hours to reach their verdicts.

Bereaved relatives listened in silence as the foreman read out the circumstances of how their loved ones died and gave the unanimous verdicts.

The jury agreed with a Leeds Crown Court jury which on December 13, 2001 convicted Gary Hart, 39, of Strubby, Alford, Lincolnshire, of ten charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

He fell asleep while driving a Land Rover with a trailer along the M62 near Ferrybridge shortly after 6am on February 28, 2001. It slid off the road and down an embankment on to the East Coast main line. Minutes later as Hart was making a 999 call to police, a GNER Newcastle to London express hit the Land Rover and was partially derailed. Seconds later at Great Heck, it collided with a Freightliner coal train coming the other way.

Four train staff, including both drivers and six passengers died in the high-speed crash. Hart, who denied the charges, is now serving five years in prison.

Yesterday, the inquest jury at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, heard that Hart's Land Rover was central to the disaster.

He had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving along the M62 and the Land Rover with a trailer carrying a car had come off the motorway onto the East Coast main line.

Ten people died when a GNER Newcastle to London train was partly derailed by hitting the Land Rover and then collided head-on with a Freightliner coal train going in the opposite direction at Great Heck on February 28, 2001.

The last of the witnesses at the inquest was Mike Smith, who headed a team of eight from Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) which looked into the cause of the disaster.

He told the jury: "There was no evidence that indicated failings in the railway operations."

He told the inquest there was an "unfortunate combination of circumstances" which led to the disaster and a "similar event may not result in derailment."

However, he believed the Land Rover being present on the line as the GNER sped towards London was central to the disaster unfolding.

He added that if the Land Rover had not been on the line: "In my opinion, that train would have arrived at Kings Cross at the designated time."

Updated: 14:52 Friday, September 12, 2003