THE father of a "sunshine girl" who died in a road crash after her fiance lost control of his car has spoken of his family's grief after he was cleared of dangerous driving.

David Barnard's bride-to-be Sarah Hampton, 20, of Titton, was killed when his car hit the kerb and overturned.

He was convicted of an alternative charge of careless driving and fined £1,000 with a 12-month driving ban.

Speaking after the case, Sarah's father Mike said: "I'm very sympathetic to David Barnard but my daughter has been left in a coffin and I do not know if we'll ever get over it.

"If he had not driven recklessly I would not be sat here with tears in my eyes and with a broken family.

"I just have to accept my daughter hit her head on the kerb but there is no other reason for this than excess speed.

"You only have to visit the site and see the immensity and distance involved. It's obvious excess speed killed her.

"The verdict does not reflect what really happened. He has to accept responsibility and he is lucky not to have killed everyone in the car."

Sarah died after Barnard lost control of his newly bought Peugeot 205 GTi as he was overtaking on the A451 Kidderminster to Stourbridge road at Ismere.

The assistant wine bar manager at Yates Wine Lodge, Kidderminster, was giving Sarah and three friends a lift home from a Merry Hill nightclub when the crash happened just after midnight on May 16 last year.

The jury took nearly four hours to clear him. He held his head in his hands and wept at the verdict.

Judge Michael Mott told the 23-year-old it was "an extremely bad case of its kind" but a careless driving conviction did not carry an imprisonment punishment.

He said the consequences of Barnard's bad driving were regretted a great deal but too late.

During a three-day trial at Worcester Crown Court, the jury heard how Barnard, of Queen Elizabeth Road, Kidderminster, was working on the night of the crash and was sober.

He said the car "twitched" and went to the right as he overtook a Ford Escort. It then veered to the left and somersaulted into bushes.

Barnard was badly cut but he and Terah Wainwright, 22, climbed out of the wreckage.

Sarah, Helen Smith, 19, and Elaine Groves, 20, were thrown out. Sarah landed on a kerb.

Miss Smith, a student, of Britannia Gardens, Stourport, described how Barnard was driving fast before the crash. She suffered serious injuries.

Barnard, who had only bought the car four days before, said although he had accelerated to 70mph to overtake on a road where the limit is 60mph, he thought it was a safe manoeuvre.

Devastated by the accident, he visited a chapel of rest every day for a fortnight to be close to his fiancee. He also left a rose in her coffin.

Miss Samantha Forsyth, defending, said he had offered a guilty plea to careless driving before the trial began - but it was rejected.

He had to leave his job because of stress but now hoped to get his £970 a month job back. He had not driven since the smash.