A DRIVER who ran over a father-of-one recalled staring into his "piercing blue eyes" as he lay dying in a pool of blood.

James William Horsfield, 39, was charged with careless driving after hitting Alan Cooke, 62, as he walked along the A6108 at Jervaulx, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Mr Cooke was hit just after the Ellingstring turn-off on December 10 2005 and died at the scene from a skull fracture caused by the windscreen of Mr Horsfield's Vauxhall Vectra.

Mr Cooke was on holiday with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. On the day of his death he had visited Masham fair with his family. They returned to their caravan at about 2pm, then at 3.30pm Mr Cooke went for a walk.

His wife became concerned after trying several times to contact him and went to look for him at 6pm. She came across the crash scene as she drove down the A6108.

Appearing before Northallerton magistrates yesterday on the second day of a two-day trial, Mr Horsfield said the only things he remembered after going round the bend before the collision were two bangs.

He said: "I stopped and looked in the rear-view mirror and I saw something or somebody lying on the side of the road.

"I went out to see what it was and all I saw was a gentleman with blood pouring out of his nose and out of his mouth. And these piercing blue eyes staring at me."

Amanda de Winter, prosecuting, accused Mr Horsfield of going too fast around the 80-degree bend, which caused him to drift into Mr Cooke.

But Ian Dacre, mitigating, said Ms de Winter was "cherry picking" the evidence to suit her case and that Mr Horsfield was the victim of a tragic set of circumstances.

He said Mr Cooke, of Browney, near Durham, had a perforated eardrum and was walking at dusk with his back to the traffic, wearing dark clothes.

The bench agreed with Mr Dacre that the prosecution's expert collision investigator, Dave Foster, had based his findings on inaccurate figures.

Chairman of the bench, Sheila Jefferson, said: "This is a tragic set of circumstances and whatever decision we make cannot in any way reflect the loss of Mr Cooke to his family. We can only express our sympathy.

"A reasonable driver would not expect a pedestrian to be walking at dusk on the wrong side of the road in dark clothing. We have to conclude that this was a contributory factor. In all the circumstances we have to conclude that Mr Horsfield was not travelling at an excessive speed. This was a tragic accident."

Mr Horsfield was acquitted.