A MAN with an "appalling" driving record was jailed for seven years for causing the death of a friend in a car crash in Blue Anchor.

Bystanders on the 30mph Carhampton to Blue Anchor road witnessed his car travelling flat-out at up to 70mph and taking a bend on the wrong side of the road before it crashed.

Eighteen-year-old passenger Mikey Dyer died from the injuries he suffered.

Taunton Crown Court heard that the driver, Ricky Cooper, tried to help his injured friend but then told his other passengers to "leg it" and left the scene before police arrived.

Cooper, aged 37, of The Brambles, Salisbury, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Dyer by dangerous driving and causing death by driving while disqualified.

He was jailed for seven years and disqualified from driving for eight years and until he passes an extended test.

The crash on February 26 followed an evening of drinking by Cooper, a man with an "appalling" driving record - he had been before the courts in this country and the USA 29 times.

The court was told that Cooper's mother died a week before the accident and that his own wife and son had died in a road accident in Oklahoma in 1995.

He knew the pain of losing a loved one, said Ed Boyce, defending, and he was devastated for Mikey's family. He was genuinely remorseful.

Following the crash, Martin Steen, prosecuting, said, Cooper phoned a friend asking to be picked up and was arrested after police stopped a car in the neighbourhood.

Officers found him in the back seat, "quite drunk", with cuts to the side of his face and blood on both hands.

His jeans were ripped but he said he was OK and that he had been beaten up earlier and just wanted to get home to bed.

He was taken to hospital and at about 4am, some three and a half hours after the accident, he refused to give a blood sample.

Cooper had driven from the Hampshire area with four friends to stay in West Somerset and had been drinking in the Blue Anchor Hotel, said Mr Steen.

When the bar closed, they drove to a supermarket in Minehead to buy more alcohol.

Two girls in the car described his driving as fast and inappropriate.

And, on his way back through Carhampton, his speed alarmed a resident who saw the car taking a bend on the wrong side of the road at about 60-70mph in a 30mph limit.

She stood back from the road as it sped by and then heard a screeching of brakes and tyres.

A man out walking his dog thought the approaching car was travelling "flat out" in fourth gear and saw it straddling the white line, said Mr Steen.

A car passenger described the driving as far too fast with passengers being thrown around and could remember little of the incident other than "a massive impact".

No-one in the car was wearing a seatbelt.

Following the crash, the front seat passenger got out of the door but Mikey Dyer, in the back seat, was badly injured.

A month earlier he had suffered a lesion of the brain following an assault but that did not affect the cause of his death - a ruptured aorta artery which caused severe internal bleeding - "a recognised injury from a high-speed collision", Mr Steen added.

A 16-year-old girl passenger recalled Cooper saying "let's run", but he made some effort to help before leaving the scene.

He told police he was driving normally on the way back from Minehead and they were all laughing, joking and drinking.

About halfway down a hill, someone got in the way of a gear change: "I took my eyes off the road, and that's all I remember."

Afterwards, there was blood all over the place and the girls were screaming. He had to get out through the window and went to the back of the car for a blanket.

Mikey was not moving. He told the others not to touch him and went to get help, but he fell down and woke up in a ditch with someone pulling his leg.

He said he had been driving at about 50mph and did not feel drunk.

Mr Steen said Cooper had been before the courts a number of times, starting in 1988 as a juvenile. He had traffic offences including driving while disqualified and reckless driving.

He went to the USA to live in 1994, and on returning to this country, he was charged with driving while disqualified in 2006.

In November 2007 he was made subject to a mandatory driving test, and in July 2008 he was given a community order with 100 hours' unpaid work for driving while disqualified.

Mr Boyce said Cooper accepted he had drunk enough to be over the limit but not that his driving was grossly impaired. He was genuinely remorseful.

He knew Mikey Dyer's family and was devastated at causing the death of a friend.

He knew the pain of losing a loved one, his wife and son having died in 1995 and his mother a week or two before the accident.

He had not intended to drive that evening but the group wanted more alcohol and he made a tragic decision.

He was unaware of the severity of the injuries and had exchanged words with Mr Dyer before leaving the scene.

He was also seriously injured and needed two operations under general anaesthetic.

Judge Ian Leeming QC said Cooper had been driving "grossly in excess" of the 30mph limit - "wildly, recklessly and with abandon".

He was clearly over the alcohol limit and lost control of the car.

His record of offending, particularly in respect of driving vehicles, was "appalling".