A MAN was killed and his wife seriously injured in a head-on crash as they travelled home from their son’s graduation, a jury heard.

Bournemouth Crown Court was told how David Grant-Jones, 49, from Weymouth, died of his injuries after his car was hit by an oncoming BMW which had veered into the wrong lane of the A35 Puddletown Bypass.

His wife Heather recalled how she woke up “lying on the grass in a nightmare” before being airlifted to hospital after the crash on the afternoon of July 14 last year.

Adrian Wojciechowski, 29, and Thomas Russell, 39, who were allegedly ‘racing each other at speed’ before the collision, are on trial at Bournemouth Crown Court jointly charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

The crash happened at the point where the road becomes a single carriageway.

Prosecutor Simon Jones told the jury that Russell, who drove a Mercedes, and Wojciechowski, driving the BMW, were both travelling eastbound towards Bere Regis and were seen by witnesses to be travelling ‘in excess of 100mph’.

Mr Jones said: “The prosecution says the defendants were deliberately racing each other - that decision and action was dangerous.

“The two vehicles carried too much speed off the dual carriageway as the road went into a single lane.

“They had gone for a gap and misjudged the speed of the vehicles.

“Russell, at the end of the dual carriageway, merged to get his Mercedes into the single lane but this was not possible for Wojciechowski…who steered into the opposite carriageway and into the path of the car driven by Mr Grant-Jones.”

During the first day of the trial yesterday, jurors were shown photos taken at the scene of the crash.

Wojciechowski and Russell are jointly charged with a further three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after Mrs Grant-Jones and Wojciechowski’s two passengers, Lukasz Mleczek and Pawel Arnista, were all left injured following the crash.

Mrs Grant-Jones suffered multiple fractured ribs, cuts to her body and other injuries which required surgery after the crash.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: “Dave and I had known each other for 28 years and were married for 18 years. Dave was a cautious and patient driver…I always felt safe with his driving.

“After [my son’s] graduation we didn’t have any real plans, the last conversation I had with him was about what takeaway we would have that night.”

“The next thing I remember is lying on the grass in a nightmare. I remember someone holding my hand and asking me questions and being wheeled into the helicopter.

“I knew Dave had died because I kept asking about him, but no one would tell me.”

Wojciechowski, from West Molesey, Surrey, and Russell, of Beaufoys Close in Ferndown, deny causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.

The trial continues.