A GIRL who witnessed the death of a schoolgirl in a horror car smash said the driver was speeding the night she died, a court heard.

Danielle Atkins, 18, told Teesside Crown Court that Lee Leonard was driving too fast in the minutes leading up to the crash that killed Naomi Ashman, on May 7, last year.

The 12-year-old, from Allen Grove, Stokesley, North Yorkshire, was a backseat passenger in Mr Leonard's Citroen Saxo when it left the B1257 Great Broughton to Helmsley road at Clay Bank and hit a tree.

The prosecution said the 18-year-old, who had only passed his driving test eight days before the accident, was showing off in his new car and ended up losing control.

He appeared for trial yesterday charged with causing the schoolgirl's death by dangerous driving, a charge he denies.

Miss Atkins, speaking on a video link from Birmingham, said she and three friends, including Naomi, had met up with four boys in Stokesley town centre on the night of the accident.

They agreed to go for a drive with the teenagers and spent two hours driving between Clay Bank and Middlesbrough before heading back to Stokesley.

Miss Atkins had been in a car driven by Mr Leonard's friend, James, and Naomi and her friend, Jemma, had got into Mr Leonard's car.

She told the court that just before the accident at Clay Bank, Mr Leonard had overtaken the vehicle she was in and the car went out of sight. Minutes later the Citroen Saxo left the road.

Miss Atkins told the court: "He was going too fast. You could tell straight away that he liked speeding."

When interviewed by police, Mr Leonard said he had not driven at fast speeds and he denied resting his chin on the steering wheel.

Mr Leonard, of Marton Moor Road, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, told police he had no memory of the accident.

The trial continues today.