A STUDENT may have deliberately killed himself in a high-speed crash because he could not face being sent back to prison.

Lawrence Koppert, 23, died early on Monday when his silver Peugeot crashed into an ornamental archway straddling a public road by Castle Howard, near Malton, North Yorkshire.

Yesterday, it emerged the smash happened just hours before he was due to appear in York Crown Court accused of wounding - a charge he denied.

A student at York University, studying sports science, in the past he had served time in prison for burglary.

And just the day before he died he sent a text message to his brother James, 25, which read: "The system is playing a game with me. They want to **** me up. They created a monster. Now they must face it."

Before his death he had also been to see his girlfriend, Katrina Lawson, who he hugged and asked: "Will you always remember me?"

Mr Koppert, known to his friends as Loz, lived in Sherburn, near Malton, with his mother Pam, 53, and brother, Oliver, 22.

James said he suspected his brother had taken his own life.

He said: "Loz was really turning his life around. But people were prejudiced against him and he couldn't cope with that.

"The day he died he was due in court and Lawrence was scared they would make him go back to prison.

"The text message, the things he said to his girlfriend and the fact he left his belongings at a friend's house make us think he'd decided to end it."

Miss Lawson, 17, from York, said she had not realised what her boyfriend may have planned to do, but said she would always remember him.

She said: "So many people just saw him as a criminal and never gave him a second chance. "

A police spokes-man said: "The circumstances of the crash are still being investigated and will be reported to the coroner."