Speeding motorist cleared of causing death by dangerous driving in bus stop crash

Inderjit Singh, 31, was also found not guilty of causing serious injury to another young woman stood at the bus shelter on Hagley Road West in May 2014.

The computer engineer clasped his hands together and stood in the dock weeping as the jury delivered its unanimous verdict at Wolverhampton Crown Court this afternoon.

Also in court, the family of dead student Rebecca McManus sobbed following the outcome, which came after jury members had deliberated for just over one and a half hours.

The 21-year-old victim, who passed four A-levels at King Edward VI Sixth Form College, was on her way to celebrate a hen party in Birmingham on May 31, 2014, when she was struck.

Miss McManus, from Oldbury, who was studying literature, drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, died at the scene and her 21-year-old friend Harriet Barnsley spent four months in hospital after suffering 'life changing' injuries

Singh, a first class honours degree holder, had always maintained that he was not to blame for the death and injuries caused by his rival's red Evolution swerving into a bus lane at 101mph.

He had admitted racing against him but had told the court he had withdrawn from the contest, which lasted only minutes.

Expert witness appeared to back his claims when PC Nigel Power, a road traffic collisions expert with West Midlands Police, said he had used CCTV images to calculate the Mitsubishi's speed at 101mph or 4.4 metres a second and the BMW's at 50mph moments before the smash.

He said: "The red Mitsubishi was travelling at around 101mph. It would have been losing control at this point. The BMW was slowing down on the footage travelling at around 50mph."

Taking the witness stand during the five-day trial Singh, who described himself as 'shy and timid,' had told the jury he was ashamed of his actions and that he had d been a coward for not stopping, instead waiting for police to arrest him two weeks later.

He told the jury: "The decision to race was irresponsible was irresponsible and stupid and I was not thinking clearly.

"Attempts to provoke me had worked and I should not have given in to temptation. It's something I regret."

Singh, 31, of Cranbourne Avenue, Ettingshall, had admitted dangerous driving, accepts he was racing and was bailed until sentence.

Mitsubishi Evolution driver Sukvinder Mannan, 33, from Halesowen, has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

After the case Sergeant Paul Hughes, from West Midlands Police's Collision Investigation Unit, said: "The Evo was calculated to have been travelling at 101mph in a 40mph limit immediately before losing control and ploughing into the bus stop.

"These drivers were not young inexperienced drivers but professional working men who decided to race each other - for reasons we will never understand - along a busy suburban highway.

"Rebecca and her friend were on a night out and did the right thing, they planned their night and decided to catch a bus into town. They thought they would be safe!

"It was the senseless and reckless actions of two men that changed two families' lives forever."

The pair will be sentenced together at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday.