A YOUTH who killed a stranger when he took a car out for a spin hours after getting behind the wheel for the first time failed to win a cut in his sentence yesterday.

Carl Foster, of Dallas Court, Hemlington, near Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court, in January, to causing the death of 22-year-old Philip Taylor by dangerous driving, and was given a five-year custodial sentence.

The now 17-year-old crashed into Mr Taylor, of Bilsdale Road, in November last year after a high-speed police chase.

Yesterday, his barrister, Jonathan Carroll, pleaded with three top judges sitting at London's Court of Appeal to show mercy as the teenager is haunted by his crime and has shown genuine remorse. Mr Carroll said Foster - who had seven GCSE passes and was attending college at the time - has been forced to give up his mechanics course as a result of his sentence.

But Mr Justice Henriques, who was sitting at London's Court of Appeal with Lord Justice Kay and Mr Justice Wright, said Foster had indulged in an "appalling" piece of driving that resulted in "unnecessary" loss of life.

"This was a truly shocking act of driving," he added. "Sooner or later a terrible accident was inevitable."

The judge added that courts in the UK were becoming increasingly "sensitive" to the views of the public - who want long sentences passed in death by dangerous driving cases.