A SENIOR banker has been found not guilty of causing the death of a motorcyclist by careless driving.

Derek Shakespeare, 52, who is co-head of UK and Ireland mergers and acquisitions at Barclays bank, had been accused of causing the death by careless driving of 32-year-old Peter Lowe, from Porton.

The incident was alleged to have happened at the junction of the A343 and the B3058, at Nether Wallop, near Andover, on October 28, 2018.

However, Mr Shakespeare has since been cleared by a jury following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, told the jury that the crash happened as Mr Lowe, from Porton, was riding his red Yamaha motorcycle along the A343 from Nether Wallop. Mr Shakespeare, driving a Land Rover Discovery, was then said to have pulled out at the junction with the B3058 and collided with the rider.

The prosecutor said the 52-year-old banker told police that he had stopped at the dotted line and waited for a car coming from the same direction as Mr Lowe.

He said that Mr Shakespeare, of Walhampton, in the New Forest, told officers that “once it had passed, he looked again, it was clear, he pulled out and then he heard a bang”.

Mr Lowe was described by his family in a statement released after his death as a “kind and caring man who loved his family and pets and riding his bike”.

They said: “He was always full of fun and life, compassionate and caring.”