A newly-qualified driver has been jailed for killing his two best friends in a crash on a country road - a month after passing his test.
Nicholas Landon, 18, was behind the wheel of his Suzuki Swift when he lost control and killed schoolfriends Alex Jones and Royston Thomas.
A-level student Landon was just 17 at the time of the crash and had only passed his driving test a month before the fatal accident.
A court heard he was travelling at up to 70 mph on a flooded road where the speed limit was 40mph.
Judge Neil Bidder QC told Landon: 'That road was dark, narrow and had bends.
'You should have been travelling at below the 40mph speed limit, not more than 20 mph above it.
'You must have seen puddles as you approached that area but you ignored the conditions.
'As a result the two families are suffering intense grief and no sentence I can pass can remove their pain.'
Landon, of Bridgend, South Wales, admitted two charges of causing death by careless driving.
The court heard he was out with his two schoolfriends on a country road in Ogmore-on-Sea, near Bridgend, when the accident happened in November 2009.
The two passengers, also 17, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The court heard Landon wrote to both boys' parents expressing his remorse.
He wrote: 'Royston and Alex were my best friends. I loved them so much and always will.'
Landon was jailed for 20 months and handed a three-year driving ban.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...2-best-friends-car-crash-month-test-pass.html
