The Polish trucker accused of killing eight people in a horrific accident on the M1 had been asleep in his lorry for 12-and-a-half minutes when the crash took place, a court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne told the court that Ryszard Masierak had been asleep in his stationary lorry in the inside lane of the motorway.

The revelation emerged after the 31-year-old lorry driver made an application for bail to a Crown court judge.