Coach driver Jeannette Morris wept uncontrollably and cried out "my kids" after being found guilty of causing the deaths of three teenage air cadets.
Morris, 48, of Stamford, Lincolnshire, was convicted of three charges of death by dangerous driving at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday.
Simon Bland, 37, of Peterborough, whose lorry ploughed into the back of the coach after it had stopped on a busy dual carriageway on August 21 last year was cleared of the same charges. He was found guilty of driving without due care and attention.
Outside court the family of Wayne Maynard, 18, of Brent Place, Barnet, welcomed the verdict as the right decision.
Wayne, a member of 1374 (East Barnet) Squadron Air Training Corps, died alongside 15-year-olds Chris Colmer, from Pinner, and Jason Adnitt, of Edmonton.
Morris, a mother-of-two, had parked her RAF coach in the left hand lane of the busy A1 outside Peterborough after a minor accident.
She was ferrying 36 cadets and four adults back to RAF Wittering after a day's orienteering.
The three cadets died when Bland's 38-ton lorry ploughed into the back of the coach.
Nineteen other cadets, including 15-year-old James Topping, from Meadway, Barnet, who spent months in hospital, were injured.
Bland, a father-of-one, admitted he was driving carelessly and had not seen the coach until it was too late.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months, fined £750 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £75, but won his own defence costs. His employers are standing by him.
Judge Nicholas Coleman told Bland he bore a particular burden for the accident.
"You have assumed moral blame for the events of that night," he said. "You were in charge of a very large and potentially dangerous piece of machinery."
Outside court, a statement from Bland and his employers said he had the "deepest sympathy" for all the victims and in particular the "three young people who lost their lives".
Morris, who was bundled into a car following the verdict and driven away without commenting, faces jail when she is sentenced on December 20.
November 28, 2001 17:59
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