A MAN who was found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving on a county road has avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Gareth Jones, 30, of Newlands, Newbridge-on-Wye, Llandrindod Wells, was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years after being found guilty by jurors of four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving following a crash on the A44 at Monkland on May 24, 2015.

The complainants seriously injured in the crash were the former deputy leader of Herefordshire Council June French and also Lee James, Kevin Lewis and Stephen parry.

Jones had denied the four counts but was found guilty by the jury at Worcester Crown Court earlier this year.

Jurors heard that Jones was driving back to Mid Wales following a stag weekend in Berlin with his three friends when his car hit a grass verge before going across to the opposite side of the road and crashing into Mrs French’s car head-on.

Kevin Lewis was a passenger in Jones’ car and described how they had left for Berlin on Thursday and had several late nights out before travelling back on an early flight to Luton on Sunday.

“A corner was approaching and there was no reaction from the driver,” Mr Lewis told jurors.

“We hit the verge and I had a terrible feeling he wasn’t conscious at the time. I had a horrible feeling he was asleep.

“We didn’t slow up and were still going at 60 miles per hour.”

He told jurors that Jones did try to correct the manoeuvre but turned across the road into the opposite carriageway and into an oncoming car.

Mrs French, who was travelling to meet friends in Leominster, was left trapped in her car and suffered an open fracture to her foot.

The court heard that prior to the crash there were no concerns about Jones’ standard of driving.

Huw Davies, defending, asked Lewis if he had seen a bird hit the windscreen before the crash. He replied that he had not seen anything of the kind happen.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright handed Jones the suspended sentence and disqualified him from driving for two years.

He was also ordered to pay £5,000 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.