A SCHOOL worker has gone on trial accused of causing the death by dangerous driving of a motorcyclist on a country road.

David Morse, from Barnard Castle, County Durham, was killed while out riding with friends in North Yorkshire last summer.

The 36-year-old postal worker's Honda bike was in collision with a Toyota Yaris in Springs Lane, near Ravensworth, Richmond.

Jemma Hansom, of The Green, Ravensworth, denies causing his death by dangerous driving and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The 23-year-old, who works at the after-school club at Richmond Methodist School, sobbed when she appeared in the dock yesterday.

Throughout the opening of the case by prosecutor Shaun Dodds, a visibly-upset Miss Hansom wiped away tears from her eyes.

The court heard how the collision happened on the unclassified road, at a place known as Drystones, on June 29 last year.

The motorcyclists were travelling from Ravensworth to Richmond, and Miss Hansom was returning home in the opposite direction.

Mr Dodds said Miss Hansom strayed onto the wrong side of the road on a bend and clipped one of the riders, Michael Grier.

He told the jury that the hatchback veered further across the carriageway and collided with Mr Morse and his Honda Fireblade.

The former builder and supermarket worker was thrown from the bike, over a hedge and into an adjacent field, Mr Dodds said.

A third biker, Philip Grier, negotiated the bend next and slid along the road, under the Toyota, which had spun 90 degrees.

Mr Dodds told the jury that there was no suggestion that any of the motorcyclists or Miss Hansom had been speeding.

He said the collision appeared to be inexplicable, but asked the panel of eight women and four men to consider what caused it.

"One of the questions you will have to deal with during the course of this trial is why was the defendant on the wrong side of the road when she approached this blind bend," he said.

"The prosecution maintain the collision was caused as a result of the defendant's dangerous driving.

"A person drives dangerously if the way they drive falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver."

"The Crown says straying, making contact with one bike, then further straying into the wrong lane in what is effectively a blind bend in the path of this motorbike falls below the standard of a careful and competent driver."

Members of Mr Morse's family were in the public gallery as the trial began, and also shed tears during the opening of the case.

He worked at the Royal Mail depot in Darlington and had also worked as a builder and at Safeway in Barnard Castle The trial continues.