A MOTORWAY crash in which a husband is alleged to have murdered his wife resembled an "explosion" and sent items of luggage flying into the air, a court has heard.

Leicester Crown Court was told that two dogs were also thrown out of a pick-up truck being driven by Swindon man Ian Walters as it "imploded" into a line of trees.

Walters, 51, denies the murder of his wife Tracy, who died in hospital two days after the high-speed crash on the M1 near Markfield, Leicestershire.

Prosecutors allege that Walters, a driving test examiner, deliberately steered his Mitsubishi L200 off the motorway after his wife said she wanted a divorce and made allegations of domestic abuse.

A jury of nine women and three men was told yesterday that Walters, of Tregantle Walk, Swindon, was returning home with his wife from a "make-or-break" week away in North Yorkshire which ended in an argument.

Giving evidence to the second day of Walters' trial, several witnesses described how passing motorists went to aid the couple, both trapped in the wreckage of the 4x4.

The first witness, Robin Goss, told jurors the driver of the pick-up appeared to have made a "conscious, deliberate" decision to steer towards the hard shoulder.

Mr Goss, a 39-year-old training consultant from Buckinghamshire, told jurors he was up to 150 metres behind the L200, doing around 70mph in the inside lane.

"Everything was normal," Mr Goss told the court. "Then all of a sudden I saw this car just swerve violently across to the left.

"It completely disappeared and I remember looking into the hard shoulder. Then I saw what looked like a little explosion.

"Bits of tree and bits of plastic came out in front of me. When I saw the dogs, I started to put together what had happened."

Child protection worker Gary Donald, who was driving a Kia Picanto on the southbound carriageway, also gave evidence to the court about the crash on March 21 last year.

He told jurors he saw the pick-up veer sharply from right to left - performing "almost a straight turn" - and move towards a line of trees.

"The canopy of all the trees shook - I would use the word 'imploded' - and there was luggage, bits of car, and parts of tree flying into the air," Mr Donald said.

Under questioning from defence QC Christopher Millington, Mr Donald agreed that time-lapse CCTV footage of the L200 showed a "rather less dramatic" veer than he had described to the court.

Witness Steven Prince, a passenger in a Range Rover which stopped at the scene, told how he attempted to reassure Mrs Walters before she was cut free.

Giving his recollection on the aftermath of the crash, Mr Prince told the jury panel he did not witness the moment of impact but had seen a cloud of dust.

"I looked left and I saw two dogs out where they shouldn't be and I saw the car that was already in the tree."

After getting out of his mother's car, Mr Prince said, he ran along the hard shoulder towards the crashed vehicle.

"The car was a hell of a mess," Mr Prince added.

"I didn't bother looking at the driver's side because I thought whoever was in there was going to be squashed."

The court heard that the witness then made his way to the passenger side of the vehicle, where he saw a hand sticking out of the wreckage which he wrongly thought was a child's severed arm.

The witness added: "I made my way through the thicket and it wasn't a kid it was a lady. She was in the front seat but it had been pushed to the back.

"She said she was dying. I told her she would be all right and that I wasn't going anywhere, just to calm her down and make her feel at ease as much as I could."

Prosecutor Charles Miskin QC asked Mr Prince if Mrs Walters, who was aged 48, had said anything else.

"No, other than that she couldn't breathe," Mr Prince replied. "She kept on telling me that and she kept on saying that she was dying."

The trial, which may last for up to a month, was adjourned until next week.