A MAN was jailed for four years for causing the death of a woman while speeding in his BMW following a night of drinking.

Moments before being sentenced, Kevin James Lane said he felt physically ill to know he had cost the life of 19-year-old Laura Collingwood, of Bramham Avenue, Chapelfields, York.

In a letter to York Crown Court, Lane, 24, urged others to look at his case and steer clear of drink-driving.

"I am disgusted with myself," he wrote.

"It makes me physically sick to think it was my bad judgement that took her life. I also hope people around me will look at me and be put off from ever doing a similar thing. I wouldn't wish how I feel on anybody."

Lane, of Severus Street, Acomb, York, admitted Laura's death by driving on the A1237 last June without due care and attention, having consumed at least twice the legal limit of alcohol.

He was jailed for four years and banned from driving for five. David Garnett, prosecuting, said Miss Collingwood was with friends in an Acomb pub when they started talking with another group, including Lane, and agreed to go to a nightclub together.

Someone went to get Lane's BMW from his home nearby, and drove towards Clifton Moor. Concerned by the way the car was being driven, Lane took the wheel, then overtook a Ford Fiesta at speed just before a Land Rover emerged from a roundabout in the opposite direction.

"Kevin Lane must have overreacted as the vehicle began fish-tailing before losing control, swerving across the road and colliding with a hedge," Mr Garnett said.

Laura Collingwood died from multiple injuries, while two others were seriously injured. Lane and another male suffered cuts and bruises.

Simon Reevell, mitigating, read out letters describing Lane as trustworthy, honest, reliable, courteous, intelligent, as well as "thoughtful and caring in his outlook on life".

Judge Paul Hoffman accepted Lane was "a thoroughly decent young man" with no previous convictions until the accident. He said: "You have expressed remorse at a high level."

But Lane drove between 68mph and 82mph in a 60mph area with at least twice the permitted limit of alcohol in his blood. One person died; two others were seriously injured.

Miss Collingwood's friends said afterwards the sentence should have been longer. Her mother declined to comment.

North Yorkshire Police spokesman Tony Lidgate said: "Any case, from the most serious to the apparently trivial, that involves drink and driving could be of catastrophic significance. Individuals who drink and take to the road in a lethal machine are playing with the lives of themselves and more importantly of other people.

" That's why we take a strong line."

The sentencing comes during North Yorkshire Police's drink-drive campaign, the message of which is that one drink could put drivers behind bars. Motorists not driving to an acceptable standard could be charged with being unfit to drive, and those found with even the smallest amount of alcohol within their system face similar penalties to drink-drivers.

Updated: 10:07 Tuesday, December 21, 2004