A teenage driver has been jailed for 14 months after a high-speed crash killed two grammar school pupils returning from celebrations after finishing their A-level exams.
Madeleine Lonsdale, 18, was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court after losing control of her car and crashing into a tree in the early hours of 20 June last year near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Harrison Carter, 18, known as Harry, and George Stephenson, 17, both pupils at King’s School in Grantham, suffered fatal injuries in the crash.
The court heard that Lonsdale had passed her driving test only three months earlier, on her third attempt, before the collision. She had been driving an electric Kia bought by her father when the crash occurred.
Prosecutors said Lonsdale had been travelling along the A1 with another friend who was driving behind her. The pair admitted they had been “effectively racing” and trying to see how fast their vehicles could go.
The group had spent the day celebrating the end of their A-level exams and had gone swimming at Rutland Water reservoir before beginning the journey home.
After stopping to buy alcohol, vapes and snacks, both vehicles turned off the dual carriageway onto a rural road near the village of Marston.
The court heard Lonsdale accelerated to around 76mph on the country road but failed to notice a warning sign for a bend.
Her vehicle left the road at the start of a right-hand bend, travelled onto a rutted area near a farm and struck a tree before being thrown back onto the road.
Data from the Kia showed the car was travelling at 76mph five seconds before the collision and was still travelling at 64mph when it hit the tree.
Lonsdale sustained a fractured wrist in the crash and was able to exit the vehicle, but the two passengers were trapped inside and unconscious.
A passing motorist stopped to help after Lonsdale flagged him down, but he believed both teenagers were already dead.
A pathologist later confirmed that both victims would have been rendered unconscious immediately due to severe head injuries.
During her first police interview, Lonsdale denied speeding and said the bend appeared sooner than she expected.
In a later interview she admitted reaching speeds of around 100mph on the A1 earlier in the journey but maintained she believed she was travelling at about 45mph before the crash.
Police crash investigators concluded that excessive speed and driver inexperience were major factors in the collision.
The court also heard that in the months after the crash Lonsdale had attended parties, posted choreographed TikTok videos and went on a skiing holiday.
Families of the two victims said the social media posts had caused further distress and described them as insensitive.
Sentencing Lonsdale, the judge said the crash had resulted in the tragic deaths of two teenagers who had their lives ahead of them.