A MIGRANT worker whose girlfriend died in a car crash was praised by a judge for his bravery in returning to the region to be jailed for her death.

Artur Hadlo, 25, had been allowed to go back to Poland to grieve with the family of barmaid Justyna Blasiak, 19, who died when Hadlo crashed while over the drink-drive limit.

Judge Peter Bowers told the farmworker: "We are grateful to you for the courage that you have shown in being able to face up to the consequences so bravely."

Hadlo had been drinking vodka at a house the couple shared with other young Poles, in North Yorkshire, before they left to spend Christmas with their families.

When he collected Ms Blasiak and chef Ralph King from the Fox and Hounds pub, near Bedale, he turned up the music on the CD player and put his foot down in the wet on a blind bend, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Hadlo lost control of the Toyota Celica on the B6285 Exelby to Bedale road. The car ricocheted off a tree and collided with a Ford Fiesta driven by German au pair Anya Hohmann, said Adrian Dent, prosecuting.

Hadlo was taken to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, where tests showed he had 118 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the limit being 80.

Mr Dent said: "He said he was blinded by an oncoming car. It is admitted that he was on the wrong side of the carriageway and he was above the alcohol limit. He said he knew the road well."

Hadlo, of Nursery View, Aiskew, Bedale, was jailed for 12 months and disqualified from driving for two years after he pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving on December 16 when over the drink-drive limit.

Rod Hunt, mitigating, said: "He was happy and euphoric at the prospect of the holiday, but he had driven too fast and, when an emergency arrived, he could not cope with it.

"One sees so many young men in the dock in these courts to whom work is a dirty word, who thrive on benefits and spend it on drugs. Here, we have a young man who is the opposite of all that, who has made a terrible misjudgement."

The judge told Hadlo: "I suspect this will haunt you for the rest of your life."