A NOVICE driver, who killed his cousin and best friend in a head-on crash, has become a broken man, a court heart yesterday.

Andrew Dennis Tock, now 20, appeared for sentence at York Crown Court after admitting causing the deaths by dangerous driving of his cousin, 15-year-old Becky Atkinson, and friend, Tom Leng, 17, on the A64 York to Malton road at Golden Hill, in October last year.

Tock, a butcher, of Farmanby Close, Thornton Dale, near Pickering, lost control of his Vauxhall Nova on a bend at the accident black-spot eight months after he passed his driving test.

Judge Peter Charlenworth read a letter from Becky's parents forgiving their nephew for the accident.

He said it was difficult to imagine a more remorseful man. He sent Tock to a young offenders' institution for 12 months and banned him from driving for three years.

Steven Garth, for Tock, said since the crash he had become a recluse, sombre and subdued. He said: "He has lost his girlfriend, his job and become, in his own eyes, a complete outcast.

"He has been locked in his bedroom in torment and despair. He is riddled with guilt and is a shell of his former self. He is totally broken."