[A] TEENAGER who killed his girlfriend and left a fellow driver badly hurt in a head-on West Cumbria smash has been jailed for a year.
Seventeen-year-old Bethany Ostle died on Christmas Eve, 2015, hours after a two-car crash between Tallentire and Gilcrux. Miss Ostle was a front seat passenger in a Fiat Punto driven by her boyfriend Derran Johnston.
Johnston, 19, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today (FRI). He admitted causing Miss Ostle’s death by careless driving. He was seriously hurt in the crash, as was Brett McMillan, who was driving the oncoming Mini.
Miss Ostle was described in court as a “lovely, bubbly, happy, outgoing girl”. In separate statements her dad, Jonathan, and mum, Alison, each said they had been handed “life sentences” following their daughter’s death.
Johnston, who walked into court on crutches, had been “deeply affected” by the crash and shown “completely genuine” remorse. He had been going “too fast” at the bend on which the collision occurred, and told police: “I think I pressed the accelerator instead of the brake”.
Johnston, of Charles Close, Workington, was also given a three-year driving ban.
“The consequences have been devastating,” said Judge Tony Lancaster. “Christmas will always carry the shadow Bethany’s loss of life over it.”
