A SPEEDING motorist killed a teenager after losing control of his car as he showed off during a drugs run.

Patrick Christopher Connolly, 39, was slammed as an 'inadequate, immature, egotist' by the family of victim Andrew Taylor as he was jailed for four-and-a-half years yesterday.

Preston Crown Court heard that Connolly had been driving his performance-enhanced Ford Mondeo V6 2.5litre at a minimum of 56 to 61mph on a 30mph road near the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors when the crash happened.

He lost control and spun 180 degrees into a crash barrier, which penetrated the passenger side, killing his work colleague Mr Taylor instantly.

Mark Lamberty, prosecuting, said the defendant and rear passenger Warren Hey, then 19, escaped with minor injuries and whiplash following the crash at just before 6pm on September 6, 2008.

Kenneth Hind, defending, said father-of-one Connolly, who was Andrew's supervisor at Burnley-based Educational Specialist Playgrounds, off Yorkshire Street, had since lost his job and his partner of three years.

Mr Hind accepted he had driven at 'inappropriate speeds' towards a blind bend, but that it wasn't a 'prolonged and pers-istent course of very bad driving'.

A victim impact statement written by Mr Taylor's parents and grandparents said: “If Andrew had died because of an error of judgement on his part or an unavoidable accident it would have been easier to come to terms with.

“But to find out he died bec-ause an incompetent, inade-quate, immature egotist felt the need to show off his non-existent driving prowess to two impressionable teenagers fills us with rage and at the same time a feeling of stunned disbelief.”

After the sentencing, parents Bev, 46 and Ian, 50, spoke of a 'quiet, homely' son who was 'family-orientated, hard-work-ing and responsible'.

The court was told Connolly, of Downham Drive, Accrington, had served a two-year jail sentence for kidnap and assault causing actual bodily harm in July 2003 and while on bail for the death by dangerous driving charge, had been fined and banned for drink driving last October.

He was given four and-a-half years, of which half will be in custody, the remainder on licence, and banned from driving for 10 years.