Four years jail for man who wiped out family

A driver whose car crashed into a people carrier, killing four members of the same family, was today behind bars after being found guilty of death by careless driving.

Father-of-one Gordon Dyche, from Walsall, was overtaking two vehicles when he crashed into the back of a Peugeot 807 people carrier, sending it crashing into a Welsh reservoir.

The people carrier plunged seven metres below the surface and only driver Denise Griffith, aged 56, and her dog, Milly survived the incident.

Mrs Griffith's husband Emyr, 66, mother Phyllis Hooper, 84, and two foster sons Peter Briscome and Liam Govier, both 14, died.

A jury cleared 24-year-old Dyche of four counts of causing death by dangerous driving, but found him guilty of four counts of causing death by careless driving.

It was then revealed that Dyche, who lived in Hollands Road, Blakenall Heath until 2010, had finished a ban for driving while disqualified and without insurance three months before the crash in April 2011.

Sentencing him to four years jail at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday, Judge Niclas Parry said: "This behaviour and your previous convictions for motoring matters has confirmed you as a chancer behind the wheel."

Dyche, who had denied all the charges, had previously said he was satisfied that it was safe to overtake on the road near Llanidloes.

The family had been travelling back from a day out in Machynlleth to their holiday caravan near Llandrindod Wells when the incident happened at about 2.25pm.

Following the sentencing, Mrs Griffith said in a statement: "No words can express how much I miss my family and how much my life has changed since that day in April 2011.

"Whatever the outcome from today would have been, it would not have changed anything."