A man celebrating his 21st birthday was killed when he crashed a car into trees while more than three times over the legal drink-drive limit, an inquest heard.

Tests also revealed Paul Newman had traces of cannabis in his blood when he smashed the Daewoo Nexia into oak trees in the early hours of December 21 last year.

Earlier, Mr Newman had been drinking with a group of friends he lived with in Eridge Road, Laughton, near Lewes.

The group went to a Chinese restaurant in Crowborough, returning to the house after midnight to drink strong lager, spirits and smoke cannabis.

At around 12.50am Mr Newman announced he was going to a nearby kebab van, asking the group if anyone wanted him to fetch any food.

He took the Daewoo belonging to his housemate Roger Howard without him knowing and set off along the A26.

Friend Debbie Mackinnon told the Eastbourne inquest: "Paul was visibly drunk but we didn't discourage him because none of us were really in a fit state of mind.

"We thought he was just going to walk up the road because he didn't own a car."

After an hour his friends tried several times to call him on his mobile phone without success.

Crash investigator PC Nigel Harwood said Mr Newman died from massive injuries at the scene while the car's engine was recovered 40 metres from where the car came to rest.

A post-mortem revealed the driver had 248 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Alan Craze said about a third of fatal road accidents involved a person being over the drink-drive limit.