A teenage learner driver who killed her boyfriend in a high-speed crash and then lied that he had been behind the wheel has walked free from court.
Anna Marie Hibben, then 17, had failed her driving test three times when she drove along a country road at night at an estimated speed of between 57 and 63 mph.
The car veered off the road and smashed into a tree, killing 17-year-old Gary Pitchford.
No licence: Anna Hibben had failed her driving test three times when she drove her boyfriend Gary Pitchford"s car. He died when she crashed into a tree
Hibben repeatedly told police at the scene she had not been driving his Peugeot106 but one of her sandals was found wedged beneath the brake pedal. In court the Judge accepted that she had no memory of who was driving.
The Leeds University student eventually admitted causing death bycareless driving and having no insurance but escaped with a nine-monthsuspended sentence, a three-year driving ban, and a three-month curfew.
Judge Christopher Ball QC told her: ;You were driving that car lateat night, you were an inexperienced driver, not necessarily a gooddriver, still learning. Perhaps you thought you were better than youwere.
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He added young people do not realise how dangerous cars are, saying:;They are full of self-confidence but they do not have the experiencethat comes with maturity, and time and again make the sort of mistakethat you made that night.
The case will reignite the debate over whether 17-year-olds should be allowed to drive on the roads.
The Daily Mail has campaigned for the driving age to be raised to 18to help cut the number of accidents caused by young drivers.
Road safety charity Brake, which has also called for an increase inthe minimum driving age, said the sentence was ;atrociously low.
Chief executive Mary Williams said: ;Young peoples cognitiveabilities finish developing in their mid-20s, while theirthrill-seeking development is complete by the time theyre 15.
;So the teenage years are exceptionally dangerous for young drivers who are more prone to take risks.
;We have been calling for the driving test age to be raised to 18 oreven higher. The higher you go, the fewer deaths you have.
Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex heard how Hibben, from West Merseain Essex, had been going out with Gary for four weeks when the tragedyhappened in Langenhoe, near Colchester, in May last year.
A woman who heard the car race past her home moments before thecrash told police she ;tensed up because she knew the driver was goingtoo fast.
Prosecutor Kwame Inyundo said the driver of an oncoming car wasforced to brake sharply and steer off the road to avoid a more seriouscollision with the car which had already crashed.
Gary, of Colchester, who hoped to become a fireman, was cut from thewreckage by a fire crew. He was airlifted to Addenbrookes Hospital inCambridge but died two days later.
Police who examined his silver Peugeot said it was barely recognisable as a car.
Hibben, who is now 18, told police she could not remember anythingabout the accident but later told her boyfriends brother,Wayne, that she had been driving.
Catherine Bradshaw, defending, said: ;She is extremely remorseful.She wishes she could put herself in Garys place. She wishes she couldgo back in time.
Garys family described him as a ;great lad.
In a statement they said: ;He was kind and polite and we just cannotbelieve he is gone. He had a fine smile and a great sense of fun, whichwe will always remember him for. He will be greatly missed.
One in five new drivers aged between 17 and 19 crash within a year of passing their test..
This story has been adjusted to more accurately reflect the court proceedings.
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