A young rugby player from Ottery St Mary has been cleared of driving dangerously in the moments before a crash which left a teammate seriously injured and trapped in the wreckage of his car.

Taine Benson was cleared of causing serious injury by dangerous driving but found guilty of the lesser offence of careless driving by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.

The prosecution alleged that Benson was showing off to two friends in his Suzuki by driving at 70 mph on a country lane between Sidmouth and Otterton on the evening of September 2, 2021.

He lost control on a bend and his car rose up a bank and rolled up to four times, ending up on its passenger side 29 metres up Pinn Lane, Otterton.

He was 17 at the time and had only passed his driving test at the end of May that year. He was giving two teammates a lift to a fast food shop in Exmouth after a Sidmouth Rugby Club training session when he crashed at about 8.30 pm.

Back seat passenger Tim Goody suffered a serious leg injury which needed surgery under general anaesthetic to repair his Achilles tendon. He was cut from the wreckage by firefighters and spent five days in hospital.

Front seat passenger Yan Mercan climbed out of the wreckage almost unhurt but Benson suffered severe concussion and was so confused after the accident he was heard asking ‘who’s crashed my car?’.

The two passengers saw the speed at 70 mph shortly before the accident and had joked that they were 'going to die'. One said he had asked Benson to slow down.

Benson, aged 20, from Hawkins Lane, West Hill, Ottery St Mary, was found not guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving but was convicted of the lesser offence of careless driving on his own admission.

He told the jury that although he had no memory of the journey which ended in the crash, he was sure he would not have driven in a way that put his passengers or himself in danger.

He was fined £715 with £85 costs by Judge Stephen Climie, who endorsed his licence with five points. The penalty means he will not have his licence revoked.

Benson is now a student doing a business degree at Loughborough University. He has played rugby for Sidmouth and for Devon and South West junior teams and is currently a second row forward with the Taunton Titans.