A drug addict driver who hit and killed a teenage East Sussex motorcyclist hours after taking heroin has been jailed for five years.

Tommy Jones and his girlfriend had clambered out of their damaged car after the smash and fled, leaving Ross Partridge to die.

They ran home across farmland but hours later police traced the defendant who lied and said he was not behind the wheel, claiming his car had been sold and the new owner was to blame.

But five days later he walked into Hailsham police station and admitted he had been driving.

Jones, 27, a father-of-two from Swan Barn caravan site, Downash, Hailsham, admitted a charge of careless driving while under the influence of drugs.

Lewes Crown Court heard he had been attempting to overtake a vehicle when he hit Mr Partridge, 19, riding a Honda 125cc bike in the opposite direction at Dittons Road, Stone Cross, near Eastbourne, on the evening of December 11.

Mr Partridge, from Polegate, who lost an arm in the crash, died later that night at Eastbourne District General Hospital following emergency surgery to amputate one of his legs.

The court heard how Jones and his girlfriend - mother-of-one Natasha James - had given a friend a lift and were returning home when the crash happened.

Other drivers told police Jones had been driving like an "idiot" before the smash.

Blood tests taken from Jones the night of the accident showed he had taken a cocktail of drugs, including heroin and cannabis.

Judge Richard Hayward said: "Because of bad driving and impatience and because your judgement was impaired by drugs, you overtook where it was not safe to do so.

"In doing so you killed a young man whose life was just beginning. You have devastated the lives of his family and friends."

The court heard Jones, who comes from a travelling family, cannot read or write but had got cellmates to write a letter on his behalf to Mr Partridge's family to express his remorse.

Francesca Wiley, defending, said Jones never intends to take drugs again and on his release from prison plans to move away from the area with his girlfriend.

He was also banned from driving for ten years.