Driver found guilty

Carlos Rodrigues, of West End, Witney, was fined £1,200 and disqualified from driving for two years at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

The 31-year-old, originally from Portugal, had pleaded not guilty to two charges of causing death by dangerous driving on the Ducklington bypass on September 7 last year.

He overtook a pick-up, a lorry and a minibus before losing control on a right-hand bend and spinning into an oncoming Volkswagen Polo. The car ended up in Cokethorpe School playing field, on its roof.

His daughter, Sonia Dines Figuiers Rodrigues and brother-in-law Jose Avelino Dinis Figuiera, 22, both died.

At the scene of the accident, Rodrigues had denied he was the driver and said a female friend had been behind the wheel and run away. He later admitted it was him. He had told the court he was not breaking the speed limit when he overtook, but witnesses described him travelling at 70-80mph.

The jury agreed by a majority of 11 to one that Rodrigues, who had admitted the lesser charge of careless driving, was not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving, but guilty of dangerous driving.

In mitigation, Colin McCarraher described Rodrigues as a man from a "humble background" who had been working hard to build a life for his family in the UK.

He told the court that a jail sentence would have a catastrophic effect on Rodrigues' business, a fish and chip shop in Witney, and on his wife and two-year-old son, who survived the crash but never fully recovered.

Sentencing, Judge Julian Hall told Rodrigues: "No one sets out to have an accident, least of all an accident where the passengers in their car are killed, least of all an accident where members of their family are killed. This was a tragedy for you and your family.

"You tried to overtake and succeeded at a most dangerous part of this road and the manoeuvre you then undertook made you lose control.

"You were going too fast, in my judgment."