Schoolgirl jailed over pal's crash death

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A public schoolgirl who caused the death of one of her friends when she crashed her car while over the limit was jailed for 28 months today.

Gabriella Edmondson, 18, had pleaded guilty to causing the death of Grace Matilda Hadman by careless driving while over the prescribed limit of alcohol.

Grace, 17, from Lower Swell, near Cheltenham, was a back seat passenger in the Toyota Yaris when it left the A34 in Oxford and crashed in a wooded area in April.

Edmondson, who was 17 at the time, and the front seat passenger escaped with minor injuries while another passenger, Joe Robinson, from Thame, Oxfordshire was seriously injured.

Edmondson, from Beacon Hill in Penn, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was sentenced when she appeared at Oxford Crown Court today.

Miss Hadman was a boarder at St Edward's School in Oxford where she was the school's netball captain and Head Sacristan at its chapel.

In a statement released after her death, Miss Hadman's family paid tribute to their "perfect girl".