A DANGEROUS driver who caused the death of a woman and injured two other people in a head-on crash on the A69 has been jailed for six years.

Viorel Grancea (31) of no fixed address, had only been in the UK two weeks when he crashed his Ford Focus estate into a Hyundai i30 coming the opposite direction on the Haydon Bridge bypass on August 20.

Grancea, who gave his nationality as Romanian, has been convicted of 13 different offences across seven different jurisdictions in Europe since 2005, although none of them were for motoring related offences.

Grancea was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday, October 10.

The court heard that Grancea's car was overloaded, with six passengers as opposed to five along with a large amount of luggage.

He had pulled into the westbound carriageway to overtake a tractor and another car.

However, he failed to return to the eastbound lane, and crashed into a car travelling the opposite direction "at a terrifying combined speed".

The crash killed Grancea's front seat passenger, 29-year-old Romanian Denis-Alexandra Radvan, and caused serious injuries to another woman in his car, Julia Mena, and the 62-year-old driver of the Hyundai, Victoria Oliver.

Grancea had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, causing death by driving while uninsured, causing death by driving while unlicensed and driving while uninsured and otherwise than in accordance with a licence at an earlier hearing.

As well as being handed a six year prison sentence, Grancea was also given a driving ban for eight years and nine months.

Read more in the Hexham Courant.