St Edwards School pupil Gabriella Edmondson has been jailed for 28 months after admitting causing the death of one of her friends when she crashed, drunk at the wheel.

Edmondson, 18, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while drunk at an earlier hearing and was sentenced today by judge Patrick Eccles.

She has been banned from driving for four years.

Grace Matilda Hadman, 17, from Lower Swell, near Cheltenham, was a back seat passenger in the Toyota Yaris when it left the A34 in Oxford and crashed in a wooded area on April 7, killing her.

Edmondson, who was 17 at the time, and the front seat passenger — a teenage boy from Boars Hill, Oxford — escaped with minor injuries while another passenger, Joe Robinson, from Thame, Oxfordshire was seriously injured.

Miss Hadman was a boarder at St Edward's School where she was netball captain and Head Sacristan at its chapel.

She studied art, biology and maths at A-level.

A statement released on behalf of the Hadman family said: “We will always miss Grace beyond any understanding.

“Everything she was remains with us but she is not here.

“Grace was generous, considerate and kind; completely forgiving, unconditionally loving and openly affectionate.

“We will miss her every day and always.”

Edmondson’s solicitor Rob Rode said: “Gabriella Edmondson immediately accepted responsibility for the crash in which her best friend died and another friend was seriously injured.

“She pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

“She accepts the punishment imposed by the court.

“As the prosecution made quite clear to the court there was no allegation of excess speed or other bad driving.

“She lost control of the car when she turned around asking those in the back of the car to be quiet.

“She had been due to stay the night in Oxford and not due to drive.

“As the prosecution made clear, she reluctantly agreed to drive others in her car feeling some pressure so to do. She will never forgive herself for the decision she made that night and she is just terribly terribly sorry for the pain, suffering and loss she has inflicted on others.”