Anger as Selby crash man freed.

Byline: By Paul James 

Distraught families of the victims of the Selby rail disaster last night accused the prison system of making a mockery of them, after crash driver Gary Hart walked free from jail.

The 40-year-old, who caused the deaths of 10 people, left prison yesterday after serving half of his five-year sentence.

North relatives of the dead said they felt let down by the justice system, and were joined by campaigners who said the courts should have made an example of Hart.

The region's victims in the February 2001 crash included chef Paul Taylor, of Longbenton, North Tyneside, driver John Weddle, of Throckley, Newcastle, and conductor Raymond Robson, of Whitley Bay.

Mr Taylor's widow, Lee, said: "I feel completely let down by the justice system.

"It is making a mockery out of all of us and the suffering we have all had to go through. This man has never apologised and has put us all through so much with his appeals. To hear he is walking free after only two-and-a-half years makes me feel sick. It's an insult to us all."

Hart was jailed in January 2002 after he was found guilty of causing the deaths by dangerous driving of 10 people in the crash near Great Heck in February 2001.

The accident happened when his Land Rover came off the M62 motorway and came to rest on the East Coast Main Line, where it was hit by a GNER passenger express which derailed and then collided with a fully-laden coal train.

Hart was also banned by the court from driving for five years. Brigitte Chaudhry, founder of the Roadpeace charity, set up for the relatives of road crash victims, said: "We know how distraught they have been at the proposed early release and have strongly objected to it. It's quite dishonest to give an apparently long sentence when it's quite obvious to everybody that only half is ever going to be served. This was a high profile case. It should have been used to impress on people that killing on the roads is wrong."

Raymond Robson's sister Judith Cairncross, also of Whitley Bay, said: "It's an absolute disgrace. He has served just two-and-a-half years but we have been given a life sentence."

And Wendy Keenan, 35, of Heron Close, Blyth, who survived the smash, said: "If he had just held his hands up to what he did and asked people to forgive him, I am sure people would not be feeling the amount of anger they are now. To this day he does not believe it was his fault."

The Home Office last night said anybody sentenced to more than four years could apply to the Parole Board for release.