A MOTORIST who caused a crash which killed one of his best friends after stealing a hire car and driving it at nearly four times the speed limit in snowy conditions has been jailed.

Police had pulled over a hired BMW 1 Series, containing four pals, and were questioning the driver on suspicion of drink driving in Rising Bridge, on December 10, 2022, when the vehicle was driven off, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Andrew Blackburn drove the BMW through a red light and was seen driving on the wrong side of the road before police abandoned the pursuit, the court was told.

Prosecutor Beth Pilling told the court a short time later Blackburn lost control of the car on a bend in Royds Avenue, Accrington, hitting two nearby garden walls and a tree.

His friend Tom Culshaw, 29, a front seat passenger, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the car and suffered a fatal head injury. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms Pilling said it was estimated at the time of the impact the BMW had been travelling at 76mph in a 20mph zone.

The court heard Blackburn left Mr Culshaw at the scene, along with two other injured friends, but handed himself in at Blackburn's Greenbank police station the next day.

Blackburn, then 25 but now 27, a Great Harwood man of no fixed address, admitted to causing Mr Culshaw's death by dangerous driving and taking a vehicle without consent.

He was jailed for seven years and four months and banned from driving for eight years and eight months.

His mother Patience Culshaw, described her son, a father-of-one, in court as a "confident and forthright" and said their lives had been shattered by his death.

Bob Elias, defending, said: "Young men think that they are invulnerable and invincible."

He told the court Blackburn and Mr Culshaw, who had been sitting on their seat belts after the BMW was driven off, had taken risks.

The defendant was now filled with remorse, he added, and aware of the devastation his actions had caused.

Jailing Blackburn, Judge Sara Dodd said the fact he had been encouraged to take the BMW by his friends was "no excuse".

The judge accepted the deceased had been the defendant's friend but noted he had left the scene without seeking to help him.