Cameron Hughes, who was inhaling laughing gas just before a crash which killed Bonny Rae Barrow, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years by a judge at Preston on Monday (October 30).

The 24-year-old had also been sending messages on his mobile phone seconds before his van ploughed through a metal barrier and plunged down a steep ravine, the court heard.

Bonny, 15, suffered catastrophic injuries from which she died in hospital the following day.

But her distraught family, including mum Sarah Barrow, stormed out of court amid shouts of “it’s a joke” and “it’s definitely not over” when Judge Heather Lloyd passed sentence.

Hughes, 24, who was a close friend of Bonny’s family, was also disqualified from driving for eight years and nine months.

He will need to take a new test before he is allowed back behind the wheel.

Judge Lloyd told him he would have to face the effects of what he had done for the rest of his life, but added: “At least you have the rest of your life.”