A MAN who nearly killed his wife by taking risks as he drove at excessive speeds has been jailed for six months.

York Crown Court heard that the high performance sports car driven by Simon Nicholas Conder, 45, partly "disintegrated" and briefly "flew" when it was in collision with three other cars near the junction of the A658 and the A59 on the Knaresborough bypass.

Judge John Swanson said the businessman and the driver of an Audi car were driving well over the speed limit of 60mph as they "gap-hopped" along a line of traffic heading in the same direction.

Approaching a right-hand bend, Conder pulled out to overtake the Audi, and in so doing caused the collision that broke his wife's neck and would have killed her if she had not been rescued by an air ambulance.

A woman passenger travelling in the opposite direction suffered several broken bones.

Conder, of Lakeside, Acaster Malbis, near York, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. He was jailed for six months and banned from driving for one year.

Nick Worsley, prosecuting, said Conder was taking a TVR sports car for a test drive. Other motorists described him and the Audi driver as "racing".

For Conder, Simon Jackson said he had been very seriously injured and was remorseful for all the injuries he had caused.

Lyn Conder did not blame her husband for her injuries.

Updated: 10:29 Saturday, March 08, 2003