A VAN DRIVER has been cleared of causing the death of a motorcyclist by dangerous driving.
But Dempsey Wayne Lee, aged 30, was banned from driving having admitted a lesser offence of causing the death of Trevor Philip Cross by careless driving.
Lee, of Roman Way, Pontyates, near Carmarthen, will be sentenced on December 4.
Judge Keith Thomas warned him the likely outcome would be a jail sentence but he would have to decide whether he could suspend it.
Swansea Crown Court heard that on April 8 last year Lee had turned right into the path of Mr Cross’s Triumph motorbike on the A40 Carmarthen to Llendeilo road at Whitemill.
Jim Davis, prosecuting, said Lee knew the road well and was turning into a lane that led to a river, where intended to fish. He later told police he considered the road to be dangerous and had been the scene of accidents in the past.
At the scene of the accident, the road was straight and the weather and visibility had been good.
Lee, said Mr Davis, turned his Mercedes Sprinter van directly in front of 62-year-old Mr Cross, who was killed instantly.
Lee told the court he could not explain why he had not seen Mr Cross approaching.
He said he had made the same manoeuvre ‘thousands of times’ without any difficulty.
He was cleared unanimously of the more serious offence.
Judge Thomas issued an interim driving ban and told Lee the full extent would be decided at the sentencing hearing.
He instructed a probation officer to prepare a report into Lee’s background and granted him bail until December 4.
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