A learner driver who borrowed his father’s sports car without permission and killed his friend in a high-speed crash while high on drink and drugs has been jailed for seven years.

Ryan Watson, 21, was twice the drink-drive limit and had taken the party drug ketamine when he crashed the top-of-the-range Audi, killing 21-year-old Damien Witcombe.

Taunton Crown Court heard that crash scene investigators estimated that Watson, who had never passed his test, was driving at a speed in the range of 87mph – in a 30mph zone – when the accident happened.

He lost control of his father’s powerful Audi A4, which he had taken without his consent, on a bend in the village of Chilcompton, near Radstock, Somerset, shortly before 1am on May 10 last year.

Watson crashed into three parked cars and a wall, crossing the carriageway and hitting another wall before the Audi came to rest on its roof.

The force of the crash was so severe that bricks from one of the walls were found on the roof of a nearby house.

Mr Witcombe, who was a rear seat passenger, was thrown from the vehicle and suffered fatal head injuries, dying the following day in hospital. Front-seat passenger Casey Thatcher survived but both he and Watson were seriously injured. No-one in the car was wearing a seatbelt, the court was told.

Watson had taken the Audi without his father Gary’s knowledge the day before the crash. Mr Watson was working away in Sussex and had left the car on his drive with the keys inside his house.

The defendant, who lived with his mother, went to his father’s house, let himself in and took the car. Later that day Watson and his two friends were at Mr Thatcher’s house drinking when they decided to go to the defendant’s father’s house. While there they continued to drink and Watson also took ketamine.

During an altercation between Mr Witcombe and Mr Thatcher a glass door was damaged and Watson decided to drive his friends back to Mr Thatcher’s house. It was while on that journey that the crash happened, prosecutor William Hunter said.

“While driving at high speed the Audi left the road and collided with three parked cars and a boundary wall,” he said. “The car went back across the road and collided with another wall and the car was left resting on its roof. Because of the force of the crash bricks from the wall were sent flying through the roof of a nearby house.

“Damien Witcombe was ejected from the vehicle and he was found lying on the road. The defendant and Casey Thatcher were freed from the Audi by the fire brigade. The police arrived at 1am and the officer described the scene as one of total devastation.”

Mr Hunter added: “The aggravating features of this case are that he showed a flagrant disregard of the rules of the road. He was driving at high speed and had consumed a substantial amount of alcohol. He had no driving licence or insurance and he had taken the car without consent.”

The court heard that Watson disputed he was driving at 87mph but accepted he was travelling at more than twice the 30mph speed limit when the crash happened.

Watson, of Woodside, Midsomer Norton, admitted at an earlier hearing causing death by dangerous driving.

Charles Row, defending, said Watson had shortly after the crash written to the family of Mr Witcombe to apologise for his actions. He added: “Of course he shouldn’t have driven but he lacked the maturity and sense to realise that he shouldn’t have got behind the wheel of the car.

Judge Graham Hume Jones jailed Watson for seven years, banned him from driving for seven years and ordered him to take an extended driving test.

He added: “You disregarded the speed limit in a disgraceful way by driving at very high speed through a village.”

The judge said that he had a great deal of sympathy for the family of Mr Witcombe having read a victim impact statement from his mother.