A DRINK-DRIVER who lost control of his car and careered into a tree, instantly killing his friend, has been jailed.

Delivery driver Matthew Preece was twice over the limit and had taken cocaine and cannabis when he got behind the wheel of his Vauxhall Vectra.

Witnesses described him racing along Hillfoot Road at speeds of up to 70mph before losing control at a slight right-hand bend on Speke Hall Road, Speke.

Liverpool Crown Court heard his car slid across the road, mounted the kerb and ploughed straight into a tree.

Preece’s friend and work colleague, Melanie Peters – a front-seat passenger in the car – died on impact.

The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe, QC, said: “Melanie Peters was a vibrant, popular and talented 25-year-old in a responsible job and with many friends. It is with great condolence that I recognised that no sentence passed here today can reconcile her young life.”

He jailed smartly-dressed and shaven-headed Preece, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the limit, to five years and four months in prison.

Keith Sutton, prosecuting, told the court a taxi driver described how his cab was “rocked from side to side” as Preece sped past him at about 4.15am on December 8, minutes before the crash.

Preece, who had been at a party in Wavertree, insists he can remember nothing of the accident.

The 27-year-old, who has one previous conviction for taking a vehicle without authority in 2001, suffered a punctured lung, five broken ribs and fractures to his right ankle in the crash.“