A MOTORIST who survived a crash that killed a woman he went to school with told jurors of the moment he skidded into her car.

James Wilkinson, 25, took the witness stand on day two of his trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

He denies killing 26-year-old Jane Sandalls by careless driving on the B4437 Woodstock Road near Charlbury on January 21.

Ms Sandalls died from head injuries at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, the day after her Peugeot 106 was struck by Wilkinson’s Volkswagen Polo on a bend.

The defendant had passed his driving test a month before the crash and told officers at the scene he was travelling “at about 50mph”, which is the limit for the road.

Giving evidence, Wilkinson, of Market Street, Charlbury, said there was a very thin layer of frost on his windscreen before he set off to work at Eurocopter UK at Oxford Airport.

He said the weather and road conditions were “normal” and “as they had been the previous days I had been using the road”.

He added: “Approaching the corner I can’t remember whether I applied my brakes or not, but I know I started to skid as I was in the corner.

“I can’t say for sure whether I was dabbing my brakes or if the turning into the corner (caused the skid), but it was very apparent I had skidded on black ice as I was turning into the corner.

“I could feel a smooth sensation of skidding. The car turned to the right. All I remember doing was trying to turn left to try to turn out of it, which had no effect on the ice.”

Wilkinson’s car crossed into the oncoming lane and into Ms Sandalls’ vehicle.

Wilkinson admitted telling officers at the scene the crash might not have happened had he been doing 40mph.

Cross examined by prosecutor Gareth Branston, Wilkinson, who has since given up driving, denied paying no attention to the warning signs ahead of the bend.

He said: “It’s not that I dis-regarded them, it’s that I drove how I know the road.”

Asked how he would approach the corner now, he answered: “I would be a paranoid driver.”

Mr Branston asked if he would now drive more slowly through the bend. “Obviously, yes,” replied Wilkinson.

The trial continues.