A FORMER Redditch businessman has been jailed for 14 years for causing a crash that killed eight people. 

Lorry driver Ryszard Masierak, 31, was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday, March 23, after being found guilty following a two-week trial.

Masierak was twice the drink-drive limit when he stopped for 12 minutes in the slow lane of the M1 at around 3am on August 26.

His vehicle sat stationary on the motorway despite miles of hard shoulder being available to him.

He was found guilty of eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving, and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

A second lorry driver, David Wagstaff, 54, was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

He was jailed for three years and four months for his role in the crash, having been on a hands free call and in cruise control at 56mph when he crashed into a minibus driven by Cyriac Joseph, who was waiting to overtake Masierak's stationary vehicle.

The passengers had been on their way to Disneyland when they died alongside their driver in the early morning crash.

Four other passengers were left seriously injured when the vehicle was forced into and under a lorry which Masierak had stopped in the slow lane of the motorway.