A MAN has been charged in connection with a fatal collision near Blandford which claimed the lives of a husband and wife.

The crash took place at about 3.40pm on April 2 along Shaftesbury Road near Compton Abbas airfield between a black Kawasaki motorcycle and a green Ford Escort.

Jamie Patrick Myers, 24, from Shaftesbury area, has been charged with two counts of causing death by driving without due care and attention while over the specified drug drive limit and causing death by driving a vehicle unlicensed.

Motorcycle rider Sid Samways, aged 74, from Blandford, was pronounced dead at the scene. His pillion passenger and wife Barbara, 71, was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital with serious injuries but also died.

Myers is due to appear before Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Monday 9 October 2017.