A TEENAGE motorist was facing jail today after being found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of an Army major at 70mph during a cycling time trial.
Katie Hart, 19, was making the 15-minute drive to her boyfriend's house when she struck Major Gareth Rhys-Evans, 37, as he took part in the 25-mile race.
She had only driven around 2,000ft on the Southbound A1 before crashing into the rear of Maj Rhys-Evans on his Kinetic One FX Storm racing bike.
The force of the impact threw the married father-of-two over the roof of her purple Ford Ka and into the fast lane of the dual carriageway near Eaton Ford, Cambs.
He was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived at the scene on May 3 last year during the Icknield Road Club event.
Care assistant Hart, from Little Paxton, admitted causing death by careless driving but had denied causing death by dangerous driving at Peterborough Crown Court.
But yesterday a jury of nine women and three women took five hours and 26 minutes to return a unanimous verdict finding her guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
Judge Nicholas Coleman deferred sentencing while a pre-sentence report is carried out but the teenager, who sobbed in the dock, was told she could face between two and five years in jail.
As three female members of the jury also started to cry judge Coleman told Hart: "You face a prison sentence. The only question is how long".
Maj Rhys-Evans set off from Sandy, Bedfordshire, at 7.46am and was one of 120 entrants in the 25 mile time trial to Buckden, Cambs.
The court had heard how "hysterical" Hart said "I don't know how I can live with myself" after she caused his death at 8.35am on May 3 last year.
She had planned to pick up her boyfriend from his home in Eaton Ford and then drive to Norfolk for a holiday together.
Hart claimed she could not remember hitting Maj Rhys-Evans and only realised she had knocked him over when she heard a bang and saw her windscreen was smashed.
She had passed her driving test 18 months before the crash and on the day visibility was clear, the road was dry and weather good.
Hart was banned from driving and given bail on condition she remained at her home until she is sentenced at Huntingdon Crown Court on week beginning 15 February.
Cambridge News
