A HAMMERSMITH driver whose car left the road and killed a pedestrian in Surrey after a newspaper blew into his face has been cleared of causing death by careless driving.

Tillmann Dietrich, who studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, was cleared by a jury at Guildford Crown Court on Friday (28/6), following a three-day trial.

The charge related to a collision on the A30 Egham Bypass on June 20 last year, when Mr Dietrich's black Mini convertible left the carriageway, mounted the pavement and struck Stephen Myles, 60.

The court was told Mr Dietrich, of Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, had been driving west on the 50mph bypass just before a left-hand bend, when pages from a copy of The Times newspaper blew up from the passenger footwell into his face.

The jury was told Mr Dietrich, who hails from Bavaria, reached over and attempted to catch or move the newspaper with his hand before clipping the central reservation and losing control of the Mini.

Another driver, student, Sahil Kahn, was overtaken by Mr Dietrich's car shortly before the crash. He told the court: "I saw something inside his car flying around going everywhere. It flew around the passenger seat."

Prosecuting, Susannah Bramley, asked Mr Dietrich why he had chosen not to pull over, but to attempt to deal with the loose pages.

Mr Dietrich told the court: "I couldn't have pulled over, because I was in the outside lane and the cars I had just overtaken were much too close still.

"Yes, of course it was a risk, but it was the lesser [sic] of the other options."

Ms Bramley continued: "In those circumstances, at those speeds, travelling towards the bend, you decided that the best thing you could do was to stay exactly as you were and deal with the newspaper as you were going along? That's not a decision a careful driver would take."

Mr Dietrich replied: "Yes, I think it is. That's why I did it. I think if it happened again I would do the same thing."

Defending, Simon Russell Flint, called to the stand Sir Sebastian Richards, a retired Major-General and ex-Commanding Officer of the Irish Guard, who was succeeded in his last military position by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, as a character witness for Mr Dietrich.

Sir Richards told the court he became acquainted with Mr Dietrich in 2009, through being on the advisory board of World Security Network, an online network magazine for global security, the company founded by Mr Dietrich's step-father, and for which the court was told the defendant works as editor-in-chief.

Sir Richards told the court: "He seems to be a very responsible person for someone his age, including my own sons, who were both soldiers in my regiment.

"He is someone who thinks about people and cares about people, doesn't plough on regardless, but thinks about people."

The jury took 41 minutes to clear Mr Dietrich.