A FORMER assistant pub manager who killed a special needs teacher while racing at high speed on a north Dorset road has been jailed for three years.

Andrew Crump, 23, was chasing a Jaguar XJR which had overtaken his Peugeot 306 turbo diesel, forcing him to brake.

He was driving so fast that he lost control on a bend of the A3030 at North Wootton, near Sherborne, and spun across the road, colliding with an oncoming Ford Fiesta driven by Serena Buck.

Mrs Buck, a 35-year-old mother-of-one who taught adults with learning difficulties and lived in Allweston, died from her injuries at the scene shortly afterwards.

Crump, who was living and working at the Horton Inn near Wimborne at the time of the crash, was originally tried and convicted of causing death by dangerous driving in December 2003. He served three months of a three year sentence before the conviction was overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered.

Last October, following a second trial held in Dorchester Crown Court, a jury took less than two hours to re-convict Crump, now living at Runnymede, Yeovil.

At a sentencing hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, his counsel, Neil Hinton, said the fact there had been appeal had drawn out the matter for everyone. "It has clearly had a considerable effect on Mr Crump, who is not of the most robust mental constitution."

Judge John Harrow sentenced Crump to three years' imprisonment, minus the time he had already spent in custody, and banned him from driving for three years. He said Crump would have to retake his test before driving again. "Clearly this was a moment of madness ... You must pay the consequences for his serious offence," he told Crump.

First published: February 1