A HIT-AND-RUN drink-driver was taken to see the dead body of one of his victims to make him realise what he had done.

The girlfriend of victim Joseph Scurfield, Rianne Abbink, asked driver Kyle Barthram to visit the body so he would be aware of the devastation he had caused.

Barthram, 17, was locked up for five years yesterday. He was drunk behind the wheel of the BMW which ploughed into musicians Mr Scurfield and Keith Morris as the friends headed home in the late evening of June 8.

He fled the scene, but police tracked him to his home. He was remanded in custody after making no reply during interview. After seven days behind bars, he was granted bail and agreed to see Mr Scurfield's body at a chapel of rest.

Sergeant Kevin Hindhaugh, of Northumbria Police, said: "It was a request by Mr Scurfield's partner, who wanted the accused to see what he had done.

"He only gazed at Mr Scurfield for ten to 15 seconds and then bowed his head as if he was resigned to what he had done.

"The partners and relatives of both men are thoroughly decent people who have been torn apart."

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Barthram, who had not passed his test and had been drinking, lost control of the uninsured vehicle, which smashed into the two men as they walked along the 30mph Westgate Road, in Newcastle.

Mr Morris died before reaching hospital and Mr Scurfield died in the early hours of the next morning.

Barthram sobbed uncontrollably as he was sentenced to five years detention after admitting two charges of causing death by dangerous driving, drink-driving and having no insurance.

Witnesses said Barthram's car was "all over the road" with the engine revving before it began "swerving and rocking from side to side".

Ian Graham, prosecuting, said Barthram lost control of the car, and the back swung onto the pavement, where it hit the two men.

He said: "Mr Scurfield was thrown up into the air by the impact and landed on a grass verge nearby. Mr Morris was thrown a considerable distance down the road, his body coming to rest on the pavement at the next junction."

John Wilkinson, mitigating, said Barthram "succumbed to temptation" when he picked up the car keys because he was late to meet his girlfriend. She was in the car at the time of the crash.

Mr Wilkinson said the driving was a "moment of madness" by a teen who has no previous convictions and that he fled the scene thinking he had only hit a bollard.

He added: "I want it to go out loud and clear just how bitterly, bitterly sorry he is."

Judge John Milford lifted a ban on naming the teenager.

Mr Morris was a 52-year-old father-of-two and internationally-respected jazz composer.

Mr Scurfield, 56, was a violinist with the Old Rope String Band.

The deaths rocked Tyneside's music community. More than 1,000 people attended Mr Scurfield's funeral service at The Journal Tyne Theatre and a humanist ceremony for Mr Morris at Newcastle's Assembly Rooms. A tribute concert is planned at the Sage Gateshead in the new year.

Mr Morris' partner, Ellen Phethean, and sons Fred, 17, and Johnny, 12, are still coming to terms with his death.

Ms Phethean, who said she was not surprised at the length of the sentence, said: "There needs to be more preventative measures to stop young men like that ever having hold of a set of car keys.

"I'm sure the young man driving the car did not intend to take two lives. Nothing that happens now can bring back my husband and my childrens' father or our friend, Joe Scurfield."

Ms Abbink has asked to meet Barthram to talk about the tragic loss of life