Drunk teenager killed 17-year-old friend in car crash

A drunk public schoolgirl was banned from driving today after one of her friends was killed when she crashed her car after a night out.

Gabriella Edmondson, 18, insisted on driving despite being told by friends that she was too drunk, a court heard. One even tried to snatch the car keys from her but she said: "My car, my rules."

Edmondson, a pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford, admitted causing the death of Grace Hadman, 17, by careless driving while drunk, Oxford crown court heard.

She was one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit when she crashed her Toyota Yaris into a barrier on the A34 near Oxford.

Another friend, promising rugby player Joe Robinson, was left critically injured following the smash. A fourth person escaped with minor injuries.

All youngsters in the car were pupils at St Edward's and were believed to be returning from a nightclub at the start of the Easter holidays last April. Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, said: "Two people told her [Edmondson] not to drive and one person tried to take the keys away from her. She said something along the lines of my car, my rules'."

On adjourning the case for pre-sentence reports, Judge Mary-Jane Mowat imposed an immediate interim disqualification from driving. Edmondson, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, remains on bail until she is sentenced on 9 October. In a statement following the death of Miss Hadman, who was from Lower Swell, near Cheltenham, her family paid tribute to the "perfect girl".

They said: "To us, she was the most perfect girl — thoughtful, kind, knowing, sensible, bubbly, happy, endlessly smiling, loving, and giving — so very beautiful inside and out."

Andrew Trotman, headteacher of St Edward's, said Grace was the school's netball captain and was Head Sacristan at the school chapel. She was studying A-level maths, art and biology and planned a gap year. Mr Trotman said: "She was very personable, lively and very popular". The case continues.