A MAN has been jailed for 11 years after he caused a head-on crash which killed a Weymouth dad who was heading home from his son’s graduation.

David Grant-Jones and his wife Heather, from Weymouth, were travelling back from Portsmouth University on July 14 last year when their Land Rover Freelander was hit head-on by Adrian Wojciechowski’s BMW on the A35 Puddletown Bypass.

The crash happened at the point where the dual carriageway narrows to become a single lane near the Bere Regis roundabout.

Mr Grant-Jones died of his injuries at the scene and Mrs Grant-Jones suffered life-changing injuries.

Wojciechowski's two passengers, Lukasz Mleczek and Pawel Arnista, were also seriously injured.

Following a week-long trial, from which he was absent, Wojciechowski, aged 29, of Surrey, was found guilty of one charge of death by dangerous driving and three charges of serious injury by dangerous driving.

He has been jailed in his absence for 11 years for causing death by dangerous driving. He was jailed for four years each for the three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, to run concurrently.

Wojciechowski left the UK before the trial began and is believed to be in Poland.

Jurors reached the unanimous guilty verdict after deliberating for one hour and 20 minutes.

Jurors had been warned not to let their emotions cloud their judgement when considering their verdicts as they retired this morning.

Judge Stephen Climie finished his summing up at Bournemouth Crown Court earlier today.

Judge Climie started his summing up by giving a brief summary of the case, before giving legal direction to the jurors.

He said: "You will have to look at the driving, the nature of it and whether that driving was a cause of the consequences.

"When it comes to deciding the facts of the case, that is for you and you alone.

"This is an emotive case for a number of reasons. Please put sympathy on one side...we ask you to give a calm and fair evaluation."

Jurors had been told they must reach a unanimous decision.