A5 crash driver 'ran red light'

A lorry driver sped through a red traffic light before smashing into a car at a crossroads in Staffordshire killing a couple, a court was told.

The crash, on the A5 near Brownhills, claimed the lives of 29-year-old Tony Malpass and partner Joanne Beardsmore, 35, from Burntwood.

They died when the lorry smashed into their Kia, pushing it down the road, Stafford Crown Court heard.

HGV driver Pavel Dolejs was travelling above the 40mph speed limit at the time, jurors heard.

The 43-year-old Czech national was heading towards the junction with Ogley Hay Road on June 17 when the crash happened.

It is alleged he may have been distracted by a laptop computer found open beside him in the cab.

Eyewitness Gordon Hopkins told the jury he was behind the Kia at the lights.

"As we pulled away, I turned to the left and happened to see this lorry coming down the A5," he said. "It just didn't stop, it carried on and hit the car right in the side."

Mr Hopkins said the lights were on green in their direction as they pulled out across the A5.

Dolejs denies two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and alternative lesser counts of causing death by careless driving.

The tachometer in the lorry showed that in the moments before the crash, Dolejs' speed was 47mph, dropping to 43mph at the traffic lights' stop line.

Walsall-born Ms Beardsmore and Mr Malpass lived with her two children at Birch Avenue, Chasetown.

The trial continues.