STAFF at Leeds Crown Court have received a faxed threat intended for the man accused of causing the Selby train crash.

From the witness box, Gary Neil Hart, 37, revealed he had received several death threats as well as supportive letters. As relatives of the ten people who died in the disaster listened, Hart denied that he had deliberately lied when he told detectives on the day of the disaster that he had slept for two to three hours.

He told the jury he had not slept at all that night, though he had fallen asleep on his bed for about an hour shortly after he arrived home the previous day.

"I didn't make a conscious decision to go to bed," he said. "I laid on my bed and dropped asleep. I don't usually have a problem going to sleep."

He said he had been "alive" and alert as he drove along the M62 towards Great Heck on February 28.Other drivers told the court they had noticed nothing unusual about his driving when they overtook him.

Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, denies ten charges of causing death by dangerous driving.Dressed in a dull olive green suit with a muted green and yellow tie and speaking without expression, he gave evidence for three-and-a-half hours, with a 70-minute break for lunch.His barrister, Edmund Lawson QC, told the jury: "Whether legally he was responsible or not, he, of course, knows that his vehicle and its leaving the motorway started the chain of events which almost incredibly ended in the deaths.

"That is something he has never come to terms with."

The barrister then revealed that someone had used the court fax machine to send Hart a "threatening letter".Hart said he had received many supportive letters.Then he added: "I had had several letters, death threats, yes."

Describing the accident, Hart said he had heard a bang and his vehicle suddenly veered to the left down the embankment and he tried to control it as everything seemed to go in slow motion.

He said he could not believe he had managed to keep the vehicle upright on its downward slide and escape uninjured. James Goss QC, prosecuting, suggested that Hart had fallen asleep and the bang that awoke him was his vehicle hitting the kerb or some trees on the embankment."That's not true," said Hart.

"That is when you came to and things started going slowly in front of you," said Mr Goss."That's not true," repeated Hart.

Hart said he had made a flask of coffee with six spoonfuls of coffee and eight of sugar which he had drunk from at least three times en route. He had poured out small amounts as he drove.He said he knew the symptoms of tiredness and would stop when he was tired. He denied he had wound down the driver's window and opened the sunroof to keep himself awake.He also revealed he had convictions for speeding and dishonesty.The trial continues.

Updated: 08:56 Friday, December 07, 2001