THE boyfriend of popular Bromsgrove company director Sarah Hampton who was killed when his car hit the kerb and overturned has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

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

Twenty-year-old Sarah, who celebrated her birthday days before the crash on May 16 last year, worked with her dad at Crown Eyecare, in Crown Close.

She 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.

Speaking to the Advertiser/Messenger after last week's three-day trial, Michael Hampton said: "This is the most difficult case to judge.

"However you split the technicality of the charges the result is that my innocent daughter lost her life.

"But we have to try and go on with our lives."

Barnard, an assistant wine bar manager, was giving the victim and three friends a lift home from a Merry Hill nightclub when the crash happened just after midnight.

The jury of five women and seven men 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 imprisonment as a punishment.

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

The jury at Worcester Crown Court heard how Barnard, of Queen Elizabeth Road, Comberton, 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.

Miss Hampton, of Titton, in Stourport, Helen Smith, 19, and Elaine Groves, 20 were thrown out. Miss Hampton 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 Sarah. 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 employment at Yates Wine Lodge, in Kidderminster, because of stress but now hoped to get his £970-a-month job back.

He had not driven since the smash.