A ''REMARKABLE" plea today from the sister of a man who died in a car crash could not save the driver who killed him from a young offenders institution.

Thomas Walsh, 20, admitted causing the death by dangerous driving of his best friend James Buckham, 24, in June last year on the A697 near Wooler, Northumberland.

Judge David Hodson, at Newcastle Crown Court, heard Walsh lost control of the second-hand Fiat Brava he had only bought a week before on a series of bends before it crashed and overturned in a field, killing his front-seat passenger.

Mr Buckham's sister Gemma wrote to the judge, asking for Walsh to be spared jail, saying he was full of remorse, that he came from a good family and that her brother would not want him imprisoned.

She said: ''He will have to live with it for the rest of his life.''

Judge Hodson said her victim impact statement was a ''remarkable document''.

Sentencing Walsh, of High Street, Wooler, the judge said: ''Not only does she recognise in her grief the loss she and her family have sustained, but she also speaks of the loss that you and your family have suffered as well.''

The judge said the seriousness of the crime meant he must be sent to a young offenders institution for 12 months.

''There must be an immediate loss of liberty in circumstances such as these where a death is involved,'' he said.

The court heard Walsh lost control of the car on the bends when he was exceeding the 60mph limit, and when the car had one over-inflated tyre which did not have enough tread, while a rear tyre was under-inflated.

None of Mr Buckham's family was in court today for sentencing.