A YOUNG mother-of-two is facing jail after she admitted responsibility for killing a man who died beneath the wheels of her car.

Naomi Jane Myers, 22, was warned that a prison sentence was inevitable after she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Shaun Dalby, at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Mr Dalby, 28, suffocated under the weight of Myers' Fiat Punto in the car park of the Co-op store, in Coxhoe, County Durham, in the early hours of Tuesday, February 2, last year.

The tragedy took place in the car park of a Co-Op supermarket in Petterson Dale, which backs onto Church Street, the main road through the former pit village.

At the time police said they believed the death was linked to an incident of criminal damage. However, no reason was given for the killing when Myers appeared in court.

Myers, who was alone in the car, was initially charged with murder.

However, she denied murder yesterday and prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge.

Mark Guiliani, prosecuting, told the court the Crown initially held that Mr Dalby had been run over.

When asked if his death was an accident, Myers had said: "No, I did it on purpose," he said.

However, scientific investigation found evidence Myers had braked before hitting Mr Dalby at a speed no greater than 12mph.

"Evidence of braking in a car travelling at a low speed is not consistent with the Crown making a jury sure the defendant intended Mr Dalby really serious harm when she hit him with that motor vehicle," Mr Guiliani said.

Also, Myers had tried to drive her car off Mr Dalby's body, he added.

Robert Woodcock QC, for Myers, said a psychiatric report on his client had been written but invited Judge Esmond Faulks to adjourn the case so a pre-sentence report exploring Myers' domestic and other circumstances could be prepared.

She has two young children, he said.

"There are matters, I would respectfully submit, would be of relevance and assistance to a sentence for the court - not for the type of sentence, because the defendant acknowledges she will be sent to prison for this offence - but for the length of that sentence on those involved with the defendant's live, in addition to herself," he added.

Myers had been "extremely realistic" at all stages and had no other expectation than she would be sent to prison, Mr Woodcock said.

Adjourning the case, Judge Faulks told Myers: "Your not guilty plea has been accepted on the basis that you accept you were responsible for the unlawful killing by your reckless driving.

"Because of your age, it's appropriate there should be a pre-sentence report. Don't get up your hopes - it's inevitable you will be sent to prison: it's only a question of how long."

Myers, who wore a pink shirt, charcoal trouser suit, large silver earrings and had her dark brown hair combed over onto her left cheek, replied: "Yes."

Myers, previously of Park Avenue, Coxhoe, was granted conditional bail to an undisclosed address outside of the area.

Asked if she understood her bail conditions, she said: "Yes."

During a 15-minute hearing, Myers otherwise only spoke to confirm her name and enter her pleas.

As the case was adjourned, she exhaled a deep, slow breath.

Mr Dalby, of Church Street, Coxhoe, was certified dead under Myers' car.

Myers will be sentenced by Judge Faulks at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday, April 1.