A DRUNK driver was jailed for four years yesterday after a teenage passenger died in a crash.

Bradley Dickinson, 20, from Redcar, had drunk eight pints and some spirits when he lost control of his Renault Clio, killing 17-year-old neighbour Samantha Parker.

Dickinson, who had a previous conviction for driving with excess alcohol, ran from the crash scene and was found hiding half a mile away with cuts and bruises.

He told police that moments before the crash, they had been laughing and that Samantha had been drinking from a bottle of vodka.

He said he saw she was injured and tried to wake her up, then panicked, picked up the vodka and ran off.

Sarah Mallett, prosecuting, said Dickinson first denied he had been driving the car, which crashed in Redcar Road, Marske, and said his injuries came from a fight.

She said that when he was taken to a police station, he admitted his involvement.

Dickinson, Samantha and another couple had been drinking in Redcar all night, Teesside Crown Court was told. He was driving at about 60mph in a 50mph zone when the Clio mounted a kerb and hit a tree. Samantha died from head injuries.

Robin Denny, in mitigation, said Dickinson was devastated by Samantha's death, and said: "He thinks that he does not deserve to be alive.

"He is wholly grief-stricken by what has happened. He has enormous difficulties in coming to terms with the death of his friend.

"He thinks about it all the time and he has a lot of trouble concentrating, and he is seldom able to think of anything else."

He had 188mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.

In February 2003, he was convicted of driving with excess alcohol and was disqualified for two years, which was reduced by six months after he completed a correctional course.

Unemployed Dickinson, of Lilac Grove, Redcar, was jailed for four years and disqualified from driving for six years after he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving on November 7 last year.