A van driver has been cleared of causing the death of a motorcyclist after a judge said there was not enough evidence to convict him.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Christopher Worthington was catapulted through the air and suffered fatal injuries following a collision with Steven Ormond’s Ford Transit.

But the trial was halted at the end of the prosecution case yesterday, when Judge David Griffith-Jones QC directed the jury of 10 men and two women to acquit Mr Ormond of causing death by careless driving.

“The reason is quite simple,” he said. “As a matter of law, on the basis of the evidence produced, I take the view the only proper verdict is one of not guilty.”

Mr Worthington, 37, was riding his motorbike along the A229 at the bottom of Linton Hill in Miadstone when the tragedy happened on the morning of October 17 last year.

Mr Ormond, who denied the charge, was turning right across the oncoming traffic and on to the B2079 towards Marden.

The motorcycle collided with the front offside of the van.

Mr Worthington, who was married and lived in Jaggard Way, Staplehurst, died at the scene. His helmet was later found in a hedge.

Mr Ormond, of Darwin Rise, Northfleet, was driving a van owned by Maidstone firm G Baker Roofing. He told police he had started to turn right when he saw the motorcyclist “flying” around the corner.

He said he tried to swerve out of the way but was moving too slowly, and that he had not heard the motorbike approaching. He estimated its speed as 50mph. The limit was 60mph.

A witness, who seconds earlier had pulled out of the junction Mr Ormond was waiting to turn into, told officers the van was moving “extremely slowly”.

Prosecutor Nigel May told jurors: “If Steven Ormond had been exercising that degree of care, the accident simply would not have happened.”

Following legal arguments at the close of the prosecution case, Judge Griffith-Jones said he considered no jury, even with the prosecution evidence “taken at its highest”, could convict of causing death by careless driving.

Giving his ruling in the absence of the jury, he said: “I consider, on the evidence available, no jury could properly conclude for sure firstly Mr Worthington would have been within the defendant’s view prior to him starting to make his turn; secondly the defendant ought to have been able to clear the junction in time to avoid the collision; or thirdly the defendant should have been able to avoid the collision in some other way.

“In relation to this final point, it has to be said the evidence discloses the defendant was able to take some avoiding action. For reasons unknown, it appears Mr Worthington was not.”

The judge, who is a motorcyclist, gave his ruling on Tuesday but the prosecution was asked to consider whether there should be an appeal.

The prosecutor said the next day the matter had been considered carefully and the ruling would not be appealed.