Barman Graham Travers was today jailed for five-and-a-half years for killing two nursery nurses in a crash.

Travers, 21, was almost twice over the drink-drive limit when he borrowed a car to give the girls a lift home from the pub.

The Ford Mondeo crashed at 70mph in Portland Road, Hove. It spun in mid-air, landed on top of a parked Ford Sierra and skidded along the road on its roof.

Natalie "Flo" McCabe, 21, from Shoreham, died within hours.

Vicki Browne, 19, of Elm Grove, Brighton, died a month later in hospital.

Their friend Becky Fish, 20, of Mile Oak, Hove, who was also in the car, lost part of her right leg. She was released from hospital last month.

Travers, of Shelldale Road, Hove, admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving, for which the maximum sentence is ten years.

He also pleaded guilty to charges of drink-driving, driving without insurance and having no driving licence.

Sentencing him at Lewes Crown Court, Mrs Justice Anne Rafferty told Travers: "Your driving was an exercise in arrogance.

"It is not accurate to say you have ruined three lives, since you have blighted many more.

"You have ruined the lives of those who loved and love them and those who love you.

"Nothing this court can do can right your wrongs."

Friends and relatives of the girls packed the courtroom. There were emotional scenes as sentence was passed.

One woman called from the public gallery: "Shame on the sentence."

Travers was banned from driving for five years.

He had been drinking at the Golden Cross pub in Portland Road when he offered the girls a lift in the Mondeo because they could not contact their regular taxi driver.

Although he did not appear drunk, tests later showed he was almost twice over the legal limit.

He was the only one of the four who had been wearing a seatbelt and was discovered by police kneeling in a doorway near the crash scene, covered in blood.

Flo was a nursery nurse at the Young Sussex Nursery in Portland Road for two years until last summer when she moved to the Acorn Nursery at Southlands Hospital, Shoreham.

Her parents are campaigning for stiffer penalties for drink-drivers who kill.

After hearing Travers plead guilty, her father Ray said he would like to see road killers charged with manslaughter.

He said no one could imagine the family's pain, adding: "We hope if he has an ounce of decency, he will kill himself in prison so his family goes through what we are going through."

Vicki worked at the Teddybear Day Nursery in Glebe Villas, Hove.

Her family kept a bedside vigil in hospital praying she might pull through but she died four weeks after the crash.

At her funeral she was described as a lovely girl who always had a ready smile.

Zoe Ball and Norman Cook wrote a tribute message at the time: "To lovely Vicki. We will never forget all your help with Woody. Shine on!".

Rebecca Fish also worked at the Young Sussex nursery for two years.

The 20-year-old lost the lower part of her right leg in the crash.

She has since spoken of her relief at not having to relive the fateful night in court.

She left hospital for the first time on December 11 to attend a memorial service for Vicki at Gloucester Place Baptist Church in Brighton.