A NEWLY qualified driver who killed a 26-year-old woman in a car crash on a country road was driving too quickly for the conditions, a court heard.

James Wilkinson, who denies causing the death of Jane Sandalls by careless driving, was driving at about the 50mph limit but this was not appropriate for the icy and foggy conditions, Oxford Crown Court was told.

Ms Sandalls died in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, from head injuries the day after her Peugeot 106 was hit by Wilkinson’s Volks-wagen Polo, on the B4437 Woodstock Road near Charlbury.

Opening the prosecution case yesterday, Gareth Branston said: “At about 8.15am on Thursday, January 21, this defendant left his home in Charlbury and drove along the B4437 towards his place of work. Travelling in the opposite direction was Jane Sandalls.

“The morning was cold and damp, there were patches of black ice on the road and areas of freezing fog.

“Mr Wilkinson had passed his driving test one month earlier and was driving at about 50mph – that was the speed limit for the road.

“It was, however... too great a speed for the weather and road conditions.

“At a sharp right-hand bend he skidded directly into a car being driven by Jane Sandalls.

“It was a significant collision.”

Mr Branston said the front of the victim’s car was “obliterated”.

He said: “At the scene, Mr Wilkinson admitted the collision was entirely his fault and accepted he should perhaps have been driving more slowly through that bend with ice on the road.

“It was careless driving and it killed Ms Sandalls.”

Richard Benham, who momentarily lost control of his Audi A3 on the same bend just moments before witnessing the crash, told jurors the corner was “definitely one you need to be a little bit more cautious on”.

He said he negotiated it at “about 35mph” and his “wheels did slip a little bit”.

Asked in cross examination by Lucy Tapper, for the defence, whether there was anything her client could have done to avoid the crash once he had started to lose control, he replied: “From my perspective, I don’t believe there was.”

David Evans, a crew manager at Charlbury Fire Station, had sold his wife’s Polo to Wilkinson before the crash and happened to drive past the crash scene.

Describing the corner, he said: “Normally it’s fairly uneventful.

“There are other bends on that road I’ve been called to accidents on, but not that particular bend.”

Mr Evans agreed with Miss Tapper that the road conditions were “relatively normal” that day, and said he had no difficulties with any skidding or ice, despite seeing frozen puddles on the verges along his route.

The trial continues.