A sixth form student was “completely devastated” at the loss of her best friend who she killed in a road accident in Blackpool, a jury has heard.
Naomi Jones said her trauma did not compare though to the suffering felt by the family of 17-year-old Elysia Ashworth who was a rear seat passenger in her car which left the road and collided with a tree.
Preston Crown Court was told the pair were close friends from the age of 13, regularly had sleepovers at each other’s houses and that the defendant had gone on holiday to Cyprus with Miss Ashworth’s family three years ago.
Jones, 19, of Wesham, Lancashire, admits blame for her friend’s death through careless driving but denies she drove dangerously. Prosecutors say she drove “too fast” as her Vauxhall Corsa approached a blind left bend near to Blackpool Airport on the evening of July 11 last year.
Miss Ashworth, a pupil at King Edward Queen Mary School, in Lytham St Annes, died two days later in hospital after she sustained serious injuries in the collision.
Giving evidence, a tearful Jones said she broke her left arm and right ankle which needed reconstructive surgery.
In a statement to police several months after the crash, she said: “There has not been a day since the accident that I have not thought about the accident and Elly (Miss Ashworth). I have been left completely devastated by the consequences of this accident but I know whatever I am going through does not compare to the suffering felt by Elly’s family and my thoughts are with them always.”
Jones is retaking her A-levels at Blackpool Sixth Form College after her studies were affected by the crash and hopes to become a primary school teacher.
The jury has heard she was not familiar with the narrow, uneven road where the collision took place. Jones, of Carr Drive, denies causing death by dangerous driving.
(Proceeding)