A FENLAND teenager accused of killing a 17-year-old girl in a car-crash in south Lincolnshire was today (Wed) cleared of causing death by dangerous driving. Samuel Curson, who was allegedly driving too fast when he lost control on a bend and hit a tree,

A FENLAND teenager accused of killing a 17-year-old girl in a car-crash in south Lincolnshire was today (Wed) cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

Samuel Curson, who was allegedly driving "too fast" when he lost control on a bend and hit a tree, claimed he could recall little about the incident.

A court heard how his passenger, Jody Smith, of Union Street, Holbeach, died from multiple injuries after the car left the A151 at Whaplode.

Curson, 19, was in a convoy of young drivers heading from Spalding to Holbeach when the crash happened on the night of January 30 last year.

Other people on the road had noticed the "high speed" some cars in the group were travelling at and how they were overtaking other vehicles.

Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, claimed: "Whether it be racing, catch-me-up or showing off, it caused alarm or concern to other motorists that night."

A jury at Lincoln Crown Court was told Curson lost control of the car on a left-hand bend as he entered a 40mph-limit area just before Whaplode.

Miss Smith died from multiple injuries at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital after the passenger side of the car suffered most of the impact of the smash.

When Curson was finally questioned by police two months after the accident he told officers he had a very limited recollection of what happened.

Giving evidence, he said he still had little memory of the crash, adding: "I've tried to think about it, but it's just so frustrating. I can't remember."

Asked if he remembered anything about being trapped in the car or being taken to hospital by ambulance, he told the court: "Nothing at all."

Curson, of High Broadgate, Tydd St Giles, was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving after less than two hours' deliberation by the jury.

He was convicted of the lesser offence of careless driving, for which he was fined 1,000 pounds and banned from the roads for 12 months.

Also ordering him to take a retest before regaining his licence, Recorder David Farrell QC told him: "This was a bad case of careless driving.

"You have got to live with the fact on your conscience that your carelessness caused the loss of life of a young woman with everything to look forward to.