A case in which a driver caused his best friend's death was described by a judge as the most tragic he has heard.

Carl Anderson, 17, died when best friend Paul Harper crashed a Ford Escort car into a lorry while doing circuits round Clacton's Gorse Lane industrial estate on September 14 last year.

Harper, of Paul's Way, Jaywick, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was locked up for two years.

Sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Judge Rodger Hayward Smith QC said: "Words cannot describe the tragedy of this case. You have lost your best friend and you will have to live with the fact that you caused his death."

Harper, 18, of Paul's Way, Jaywick, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and permitting Luke Spooner to ride his motorbike with no licence or insurance.

Spooner, 18, of First Avenue, Clacton, admitted careless driving and permitting Harper to drive the car with no licence or insurance.

Both 18-year-olds admitted charges of driving with no licence or insurance.

Michael Epstein, mitigating for Harper, described the offence as "a moment of stupidity - a brief window of madness".

Kate Davey, for Spooner, said he made "a stupid and irresponsible" decision to try out his friend's bike. He was fined a total of £2,500 and banned from driving for two years.

As well as two years in a young offenders' institution, Harper was banned from driving for three years and ordered to take a driving test.