A teenage driver has been handed a suspended prison sentence after he admitted killing his friend in a car crash.

Joshua Downey, 18, appeared at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates Court yesterday accused of causing the death of Will Turner, also 18, on March 23 following a horror smash on the A134 in Assington, Suffolk.

He admitted causing death by careless driving and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for a year.

Downey, of Hurstwood, Berkshire, was disqualified from driving for a year with the requirement that he must take an extended retest.

He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £80 victim surcharge.

Mr Turner, of Shoebury, was pronounced dead at the scene, after the car he was in overturned and crashed into a ditch.

Firefighters pulled three other men from the wreckage.

They were taken to West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, but had not suffered any serious injuries.

Mr Turner’s family – his mother Julie, chairman of governors at Thorpe Hall School, in Southend, father Martin and brother James – described him as a “bright, shining star” who lived for his family, friends and to play golf.