A TRAINEE fighter pilot has been fined 2,500 and banned from the road for 18 months after a crash near Appleby in which a fellow RAF officer was killed.

Flying Officer Andre Kerr, 22, was driving a Peugeot 106 which crashed head-on into an oncoming lorry while overtaking on the A66 near Warcop on December 16 last year.

His colleague David Thwaites, 22, who was in the passenger seat, died instantly.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Kerr, who lives in Swainby, near Northallerton, Yorkshire, was found not guilty of causing his death by dangerous driving.

But the jury found him guilty of careless driving - a decision Kerr's barrister Stephen Ashurst described in court as "merciful".

At the time of the accident, Kerr was driving home from Elgin in Scotland, where he had been commanding a 21-man RAF fire fighting team providing cover during the firemen's strike.

Mr Thwaites was due to take over the position the next week.

The prosecution said Kerr should not have been overtaking on that stretch of road, because white line markings made it clear a bend was approaching.

But in evidence, Kerr said he thought the road was straight ahead, and had no idea there was a bend.

"The road seemed to go off into the distance in a straight line," he said.

After the verdict, Mr Ashurst praised the "quite remarkable dignity" shown by Kerr, his family and Mr Thwaites' family during the trial.

"It is not automatic that he will be retained by the RAF, but in all probability senior officers will take into account the way he has conducted himself throughout these proceedings," he said.

Judge Paul Batty QC agreed, saying: "I wish to salute the dignity of both families involved in this tragedy".

He described it was "plainly a bad case of careless driving" and told Kerr: "Nobody can bring back to life the deceased in this case, and the sentence will seem to many people to be hopelessly inadequate having regard to the fact that a death occurred. But you will have the death of David Thwaites to live with for the rest of your life."