A teenage driver who filmed her boyfriend hanging out the passenger window of her car on her mobile phone before a devastating crash which killed him has been jailed for three years.

Alfie Lovett, 17, who had become a father only 12 weeks earlier, died when Mia Howarth, then 18, crashed near Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire.

He was sitting on the windowsill of Mia Howarth's Peugeot 107 with his feet in the car and his upper body and head outside, Prosecutor Chloe Hudson told York Crown Court.

But as she filmed him on her mobile, the car veered off the road at 35mph and smashed into a drystone wall.

Lovett, from York, suffered fatal chest injuries in the crash, despite witnesses stopping to give him CPR for 15 minutes before paramedics arrived.

After the incident, Howarth told cops 'I killed him, it was my fault' but said she had 'ranted about seatbelts' every five minutes to her passengers.

A search of her phone revealed she had used Snapchat to take footage of Lovett hanging from the window with his feet on the passenger seat, while she was clearly still driving.

Ms Hudson said Howarth's phone had been used several times during the drive, to access a maps app and Spotify, as well as its camera.

The court heard the defendant, who was then 18, and the victim had planned the trip to Brimham Rocks with two friends when tragedy struck in the early evening of September 12, 2023.

Before the journey, Howarth's dad had warned her about the behaviour of boys in the car, instructing her to pull over if they tried to hang out of the car.

She had passed her test the previous year but had only bought the vehicle a month before the crash.

Alfie's father told York Crown Court: 'Alfie's loss will be part of me forever. The gap in my heart that almost feels physical, every day remains in the background.'

He added that Mia had been a good influence on Alfie and kept him out of trouble.

Alfie's mother said: 'This tragic incident has changed the course of two generations of our family.'

Alfie's baby son was born 12 weeks before he died, the family said.

Howarth, now 21, of Cooperative Street in Horbury, was jailed after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Glenn Parsons, mitigating, said: 'She has killed her partner and a loved one, and knows more than anybody what damage that has done to the family.

'She has been living it every moment of every second since. Her heart goes out to Alfie's family. She is as sorry, contrite and as remorseful as anyone can be.'

He added: 'Her sentence started three years ago and she has been living it every day since.'

He went onto say the defendant had received threats from friends and had left the area and her job in the care sector.

'Her future now lies in tatters,' he added

Sentencing Howarth, The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said: 'The boys were doing what stupid young boys do - playing around, hanging out of the window. Both Alfie and his friend did that.'

He told Howarth that she should have stopped driving and refused to go further until they behaved themselves.

The judge highlighted that she had previously been warned by her father about ensuring that all passengers were wearing seat belts.

The court heard she made matters worse by using her mobile phone and therefore could not have been aware of the course her car was taking. 

'Young people need to learn: Stay off the mobile when driving,' he said as he jailed Howarth for three years and banned her from driving for six years and six months. She must take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

'But you didn't stop, you carried on driving, you were using your mobile and you were filming.

'Young people need to learn, stay off the mobile when driving.

'Nothing I can do will ever mend the broken hearts in this case, no sentence will bring him back.'

Taking into account Howarth's age at the time, good character and time passed since the incident, Judge Morris sentenced her to three years in prison and banned her from driving for a total of six years and six months.

The prosecution did not give an explanation in court for the delay in charging her.