A WOMAN died in a crash on the way to her 28th birthday celebrations, a court heard yesterday.

Council worker Cathy Brumler's barbecue party was washed out, so the celebration was switched to a nightclub, Teesside Crown Court was told.

It was on the one-mile trip to the Big Club at Peterlee, County Durham, that Gary Ward, 21, lost control of his new car and hit a steel telegraph post.

Ward, of Thornton Gill, Peterlee, was travelling at almost twice the 30mph limit ferrying Miss Brumler and three other passengers.

In tears, he told Judge Peter Fox QC yesterday: "I just want to say how sorry I am. It is on my mind every day. I hope sometime her family will forgive me."

Ward, an office supervisor, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for three years.

Miss Brumler, of St Nicholas Terrace, Easington, County Durham, died of multiple injuries.

Her friends, Jill Lamb and Heather Kelly, both suffered a fractured pelvis.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said that Ward overtook at speed near a bend and Miss Brumler shouted for him to slow down, but his Citroen Saxo went into a two-wheel slide.

Peter Makepeace, defending, said: "Because the barbecue was cancelled, he did them a favour by giving them a lift. He had not had a drop to drink. He is devastated by what happened."

Judge Fox told Ward it was an extremely rash piece of driving.

Ward, who married after the crash in August 1999 and has a 12-week-old daughter, was banned from driving for five years and must re-sit a driving test.