Teenage joyrider Gary Whibley was jailed for eight years yesterday after leaving an 18-year-old to die in the street.

Jamie White died when he was flung through the window of a stolen Ford Escort which crashed when driven by Whibley the wrong way up Ditchling Road, Brighton, at up to 70mph.

The four car pile-up last November also left passenger Neil Clarke and pensioner Donald Priest fighting for their lives in intensive care.

At Lewes Crown Court, Whibley, 19, of Ditchling Road, Brighton, was jailed for eight years for causing death by dangerous driving and one year for aggravated vehicle taking, to be served concurrently.

He was disqualified from driving for ten years.

Jahid Arien, 20, of Woodbourne Avenue, Brighton, was jailed for one year and Clarke, 21, of Rotherfield Crescent, Brighton was jailed for six months, both for being carried in a stolen vehicle.

Judge Austin Issard-Davies told Whibley: "You embarked on a course of driving which was hideous in its danger and fatal in its consequences and caused a crash so horrific that one person was killed. Another passenger was nearly killed and another person, a retired gentleman, was injured to such an extent that his life has been ruined.

"Having done that, you then made off as quickly as you could and embarked on a course of lies from the moment of your arrest.

"It's clear that this offence of aggravated vehicle taking was covered by Parliament precisely because of the prevalence among young persons of offences of this nature."

After the sentencing Ken Stubbs, Jamie's grandfather, said: "We feel justice has been done. I think that it's a very fair sentence. It's what he deserved and the judge has obviously given it a lot of thought.

"It doesn't really help because it's something we shall never get over, but it is a sign of things getting better in the world of law and order."

Family and friends of the three defendants wept as the sentences were announced and the men were led away.

PC Roger Brown, who led the investigation, said the lengthy sentence sent out a warning to others.

Wept He said: "As well as destroying Jamie's life it has ruined the lives of Gary and his co-defendants and their families."

The tragedy began when Whibley, Clarke, Arien and Jamie drank beer and tequila on a lads' night out in Brighton.

For Jamie, it was a rare evening away from his home in Lomond Avenue, Patcham, where he lived with his grandparents Marguerite and Ken Stubbs.

He was celebrating his first pay packet from a new job at Hair Trend Supplies Warehouse, Hove, and it was the first time he had met Gary Whibley.

Jamie had moved to Brighton to live with his grandparents in search of a job and a more exciting lifestyle, but he was still in contact with his mother Julie, adopted father Andy and brothers Samuel, 13, Robin, 12, and Christopher, ten.

On the fateful November night the youngster was drinking pints and shots in the King and Queen Pub, in Marlborough Place, the Shark Bar and Swifts, in West Street, with the trio and ended up in a stolen Ford Escort.

The lethal cocktail of drink-driving, high speeds and joyriding ended in tragedy as the four hurtled the wrong way up Ditchling Road in the Escort.

The car jumped a red light at the junction of Viaduct Road and Upper Lewes Road before slamming into a taxi, hitting two other cars and a 71-year-old pedestrian, Donald Priest, before grinding to a halt against a wall.

Jamie was flung from the car and died at the scene. Clarke was also left unconscious and bleeding in the road as Whibley and Arien fled into nearby Warleigh Road.

There they accosted a passer-by and then a group of German students in a bid to find alibis before Whibley was arrested by an officer who spotted cuts and glass on him.

During the three-week trial Whibley denied being the driver of the car.