A MOTORIST has been cleared of causing a motorcyclist’s death by careless driving on a country road.

Jonathan Stokes was formally acquitted by a jury at York Crown Court yesterday after the prosecution offered no further evidence against him.

Linda Quantrill, 55, was a pillion passenger on a motorbike driven by her husband, Stephen, which crashed into Mr Stokes’s Land Rover Discovery on Mothering Sunday last year.

The Quantrills were on their way home to Scarborough after a trip to see the daffodils in Farndale. Mr Stokes, 46, of Westwick Crescent, Sheffield, was driving his family south after spending the day in North Yorkshire.

Mr Stokes was aiming to cross the A170 on the staggered junction, which entailed turning left and then immediately right.

When the motorbike struck his vehicle, the Quantrills, who had not been speeding, were both thrown from their machine, causing fatal injuries to Mrs Quantrill, while her 64-year-old husband spent 17 weeks in hospital.

Sam Andrews, prosecuting, alleged on Monday said Mr Stokes had caused the accident by not looking right as he turned into the road. But Mr Stokes said in a police interview that he had looked, but had seen nothing before he indicated and turned left at about 5mph.

Mr Andrews said yesterday afternoon that after reviewing the case over the lunch break, he would not be offering any further evidence.

Judge Stephen Ashurst said he thought this had been the right decision, but it did not “detract from the enormous tragedy of the situation”.

The judge said that from time to time, errors were made by drivers. “Sometimes accidents do happen involving careful and competent drivers going about their business,” he said.

He said no-one could have anticipated the tragedy which befell the Quantrills, which happened as a result of decisions taken over a period of just two or three seconds.

He added tha there had been an extremely thorough investigation into the crash by two experts who had spent a lot of time dealing with tragedies like this.