A FORMER student was driving 'too fast' on a wet road when he crashed his car near Plumpton College and killed his girlfriend who was in the back of the car.
Daniel Coomber, 21, from Prince Charles Road, Lewes, lost control of his green Citreon Saxo on the B2116 and turned the car over.
The accident happened on November 28 last year and tragically his girlfriend Ayesha Nye, 20 died from her injuries.
On Wednesday Mr Coomber, who is now employed as a full-time animal technician at Plumpton College, pleaded guilty to careless driving at Lewes Magistrates Court.
The court heard Mr Coomber was not speeding at the time but the road was wet and police believe he was driving too fast for the conditions.
Kate Heffernan, prosecuting, said: 'It appears the road was in a wet and slippery condition.
'He lost control going into a bend because he was going somewhat too fast for the conditions on that day.'
Magistrates heard there was no evidence to say he had been speeding.
The accident happened at around 12.55pm and Mr Coomber had intended to drive from the college to Tesco in Lewes with a friend Katy Ogden in the passenger seat and his girlfriend Miss Nye in the back seat.
Brian Shaw, defending, said: 'This accident is nothing more than a young man of perhaps limited driving experience on a road which he knew well where the national speed limit was 60mph, but on this day, in these conditions it was perhaps careless to drive in the way he did.
'Perhaps if the speed was 10mph less, this collision would not have occurred.'
He said Mr Coomber had been going out with Miss Nye for six months and at the time of the accident their relationship was blossoming.
Mr Shaw said: 'Before we came into court I asked him to describe her in his own words.
'He said she was life-loving, bubbly, beautiful and intelligent, and his father added "she was the love of his life".'
A traffic police officer who went to the scene of the accident had commented earlier in the day about the 'slippery condition' of the stretch of road.
A crash investigation could not say whether or not Miss Nye was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Katy Ogden, the other passenger in the car, and a close friend of Mr Coomber, said she always felt safe in the car with him and he was not a 'boy racer'.
Des Lambert the principal of Plumpton College described Mr Coomber as 'hardworking, reliable and honest'.
Mr Coomber was given six penalty points, fined £250, and ordered to pay £60 costs and a £15 statutory surcharge.
The full article contains 464 words and appears in Sussex Express Series newspaper.
