SELBY death crash driver Gary Hart could be free within weeks, it was revealed yesterday.

Hart has been given a date next month for a second appeal against his sentence and conviction for causing the Selby rail crash in February 2001.

GNER chef Paul Taylor, 42, train driver John Weddle, 47, and conductor Raymond Robson were among ten people killed when Hart fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover and veered into the path of a speeding Inter City from Newcastle to London.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that a date of April 14 has been set for Hart.

Yesterday, Mr Taylor's widow described Hart's attempt to overturn his conviction as "amazingly callous".

Lee Taylor, 48, of Longbenton, Newcastle, said: "It feels like he is laughing at all the victims who have lost loved ones because of what he did.

"The thought he could soon be free is too awful to think about. I hope it backfires on him and they increase his sentence."

Last year, a Court of Appeal judge refused to give Hart, from Strubby, Lincolnshire, leave to appeal, but said he could take his application further.

The 37-year-old construction boss was found guilty of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving and jailed for five years in December 2001.

Prosecutors said Hart had not been fit to drive on the day of the crash after spending all night on the phone to a girl he met on the Internet.

Last month, it was revealed he has been moved to the North Sea Camp open prison, near Skegness, Lincolnshire, after serving less than 12 months in tough Everthorpe Prison, in East Yorkshire.