A TEACHING assistant wept as she was locked up for 21 months for causing the death of a young father.

Chantal Gourde, 20, lost control of her car overtaking at 95mph, near the junction of Childerditch Lane, on the Southend-bound carriageway of the A127.

Steven West, 20, a passenger in her Rover Metro, died from injuries sustained in the horrific crash.

Gourde was travelling from North London with her four passenger friends, last May, when her car hit a crash barrier, flipped over and split virtually in half.

It landed on a verge on the opposite carriageway. Mr West's body was found lying against a tree in a ditch.

His fiancee, Sarah Chering, the mother of their 18-month-old son, sitting in the front passenger seat, suffered head injuries and a broken leg. Gourde and her boyfriend, Ben Odumlahi, both suffered minor injuries.

She was convicted earlier this year of causing death by dangerous driving.

At Basildon Crown Court, Judge Christopher Mitchell told her: "I am prepared to put this case in the lowest category of dangerous driving, but the consequences for Sarah Chering have been obviously heartbreaking."

Gourde, of Galahad Road, Tottenham, was also banned from driving for ten years.But she can care for her baby daughter while serving her sentence at the Young Offenders Institution.

After sentencing, Mr West's father, Victor, told the Echo: "She should have been banned from driving for life." Mr West, whose son lived in Firs Park Gardens, Winchmore Hill, added: "People say it will get easier, but it doesn't."