A DOCTOR'S wife who collided with a car, killing a passenger, has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

Katherine Dawkes' Land-Rover overtook a lorry on the A4538 between Warndon and Spetchley and hit a Ford Capri.

Timothy Hill, aged 26, of Cherry Orchard, Pershore, died instantly after he was flung from his back seat which did not have a seatbelt.

Front passenger Dean Andrews remains in a vegatative state and Capri driver Peter Prosser, 27, of Hatfield Bank, Norton, near Worcester, is still on crutches after suffering serious leg injuries.

The jury cleared 36-year-old Dawkes in an hour but found her guilty of careless driving.

Judge Michael Mott fined her £1,000 with £150 costs and banned her from driving for 12 months.

He told victims' relatives in court that there was no custodial sentence for careless driving, but the offence was "carelessness of a pretty high order".

Dawkes, of Moor Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, overtook the 17m lorry in the dark on April 21, 2002, when it was unsafe.

She told police: "I didn't think it was safe, but I thought it might be possible."

Richard Atkins, prosecuting, told the jury: "If it wasn't safe, it was dangerous."

He said Dawkes, a drug counsellor driving to her mother's home near Stow-on-the-Wold, did not know there was a sweeping bend coming up.

Huw Williams, defending, said the lorry had no "long vehicle" sign and was doing 46mph.

If it had stuck to its 40mph limit, Dawkes would have been able to overtake safely.

Halfway past it, she saw car lights and could not avoid the crash.

Although a man died, it was "not inevitable" that Dawkes was at fault, he added.

Testimonials described Dawkes as a woman of compassion, integrity and humanity.

She had prayed for the victims as the scene.

Mr Prosser, a mechanic, was travelling to his father's garage in Farrier Street, Worcester, with his friends when the tragedy happened.