A family reacted angrily this week when a tired motorist who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a pilot out riding his motorcycle was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving. Andrew Peter Drage, 45, was convicted of a lesser charge of careless driving and fined £700 and banned for 12 months. The family of Raymond Lacey Freeman, who flew 747s, condemned both the verdicts and the sentences. But Judge Christopher Vosper said a ban and a financial penalty were all that were open to him for an offence of careless driving. Judge Vosper said he appreciated that Mr. Freeman's family would view the penalties as inadequate, but no punishment could make up for their loss. A jury at Swansea Crown Court heard how Drage, of Skewen, near Neath, worked shifts as long as 14 hours so he could leave at lunchtime on Thursday, July 27, to join his wife and two children at a caravan in Saundersfoot. Patrick Griffiths, prosecuting, said he had overworked 'selfishly' just so he could get away early. Drage admitted to police that five minutes before the crash his body 'jumped' as he felt himself nodding off. Near Kilgetty on the A477 he fell asleep. His BMW wandered to the far side of a three-lane highway and into oncoming traffic, knocking off Mr. Freeman and squeezing between a lorry and the barrier on the far side of the road. Drage, who calibrates computer controlled machinery for a living, told the court he did not wake up until after he had hit Mr. Freeman. The jury found him guilty of careless driving by a majority of 10-2. His barrister, Tom Crowther, said Drage had always been willing to plead guilty to that offence, but the prosecution had insisted on a trial on the more serious charge. He said Drage was so shocked by the accident he had not driven for six months. Afterwards, the officer in the case, PC Justin Thomas, urged motorists to "wake up to the signs of tiredness." He added: "This was a tragic incident which could have been avoided. It resulted in the loss of a life of an innocent motorcyclist." Mr. Freeman, from Meidrim, near Carmarthen, flew 747s for British Airways before being retired at the age of 55. Since then he had flown cargo planes. His widow, Alexandra, said: "Captain Raymond Freeman was a wonderful, loving husband and a devoted father to our daughter Natasha. "Andrew Drage drove when he was so tired he fell asleep at the wheel. He could have stopped, but chose not to. "He will have to live with the knowledge that his decision not to stop resulted in my husband's death. "The verdict provides no justice. "It cannot be right that an innocent man's life is taken away and the court imposes only a fine. "Every occasion in my life will now have something missing - Ray. The despair and sadness I feel each day never leaves me. My life has been changed beyond all recognition. "He (Drage) has taken away so much from us that cannot be replaced," she added.