AN Army officer has been cleared of killing a builder in a fatal crash.

A jury of six men and six women found Major Richard Scott not guilty of causing death by careless driving after a four-day trial.

Gareth Hicks died in the crash which happened in bad weather at around 7.15am on October 6, 2014.

Major Scott was travelling westbound on the B390 near Shrewton when his car crashed into black BMW driven by Gunner Craig Reed of the Royal Artillery.

Major Scott's Audi then rebounded towards a van in which four builders were travelling towards Salisbury.

Mr Hicks was among the passengers. He later died of his injuries.

Prosecutors claimed that Major Scott, 40, had crossed the white line and hit the BMW while travelling at around 90mph.

But defence barrister Thomas Stern argued that the other driver, Gunner Reed, had been the one who crossed the white line and was on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash.

Defence expert witness Stuart Whitehead claimed a gauge mark on the road which the police said was caused by Major Scott's Audi was in fact made by the BMW.

He estimated that Major Scott was going between 66 and 74mph at the time of the crash.

Witnesses said Gunner Reed was going above the 60mph speed limit while overtaking cars in the minutes before the crash, include the van which was being driven by Patrick Gilleece.

He described him as a "silly man" for his overtake and described seeing an "explosion of debris" around the bend to his right, moments before Major Scott careered into the van.

Major Scott has no memory of the crash but said he would not have been breaking the speed limit to the extent alleged.

When giving evidence he described himself as a "safe and careful driver".

The court heard how Major Scott of Green Lane, Shepperton, Surrey, served his country during tours Afghanistan and Iraq.

Commanding officers said the father-of-three was a man of "great integrity" and had an "exceptionally good moral compass".

He has 23 years of driving experience and a clean licence.

Mr Stern told the jury that Major Scott was not going at a "blistering speed" and there was a history of accidents on the B390 eastbound.

He added that Major Scott was only ten minutes from Warminster, his destination, and had no motive to be speeding.

Judge Andrew Barnett said: "Major Scott can leave the dock without any stain on his character."