A LORRY driver who from Evesham was due to face trial on Thursday for a horrific crash on the M1 in which eight people died.

Polish national Ryszard Masierak, 32, of Barnards Close, Evesham will appear alongside lorry driver David Wagstaff, 53, at Reading Magistrates’ Court, accused of causing the crash on August 26 last year.

Minibus driver Cyriac Joseph and seven of his Indian passengers were killed on the southside of the motorway near Milton Keynes as they travelled to London from Nottingham.

Six men and two women died in the crash involving two lorries and a minibus.

The dead passengers, five men and two women, were Panneerselvam Annamalai, Rishi Ranjeev Kumar, Vivek Baskaran, Lavanyalakshmi Seetharaman, Karthikeyan Pugalur Ramasubramanian, Subramaniyan Arachelvan and Tamilmani Arachelvan.

Four others were seriously hurt.

Masierak, who driving a van belonging to Evesham firm AIM Logistics at the time of the crash and Wagstaff, of Stoke, both deny eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Wagstaff previously pleaded guilty to eight lesser charges of causing death by careless driving and four counts of careless driving.

Wagstaff was pictured arriving at the court, whilst Masierak was in custody awaiting the trial.