A TEENAGER was beginning a two-year prison sentence last night after admitting causing the death of his friend by dangerous driving.Paul Harper, 18, was jailed after admitting responsibility for the death of Carl Anderson, 17, on September 14 last year.
By Annie Davidson
A TEENAGER was beginning a two-year prison sentence last night after admitting causing the death of his friend by dangerous driving.
Paul Harper, 18, was jailed after admitting responsibility for the death of Carl Anderson, 17, on September 14 last year.
Harper was driving in circuits on an industrial estate with another teenager, Luke Spooner, 18, when the fatal crash happened.
Harper, of Pauls Way, Jaywick, was driving a Ford Escort - with Carl as a front seat passenger - while Spooner was riding a Yamaha motorcycle.
The teenagers were driving around the Gorse Lane Industrial Estate in Clacton when Harper crashed the car into a stationery lorry in Brunel Way. Carl, of Pickers Way, Holland-on-Sea, died at the scene of the accident.
At Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday, Harper, a shopfloor worker, was sentenced to two years' in prison, disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to retake his driving test.
He pleaded guilty to causing Carl's death by dangerous driving as well as a number of vehicle document offences.
Spooner, a shop assistant from First Avenue, Clacton, admitted careless driving in connection with the accident as well as vehicle document offences. He was fined £3,000 and disqualified from driving for two years.
Spooner had originally been charged with dangerous driving, which he denied, and the prosecution accepted his plea to the lesser charge.
Carl was a student at Colchester Institute, where he had begun studying for an NVQ in computing just two weeks before his death.
The oldest of four children, he was described by his mum, Erica, as “just a typical 17-year-old, very happy and he loved his music.”
She said: “I treasure every moment of his life, even the moaning we had - I just loved to see him with his friends, always messing around with smiles on their faces.”
Speaking after the sentencing she declined to comment about the sentence. “It is dealt with now so I would sooner leave it at that,” she said.
annie.davidson@eadt.co.uk
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