A TEENAGE driver who struck a milkman and killed him while sending a text message to a girl he had just met has been jailed for four years.

Tony Revell's distraught family and friends were in court to hear Judge Samuel Wiggs tell the 18-year-old: "It is difficult to think of a more dangerous enterprise when driving a car than to use a mobile phone, not only to receive but to send text messages.

"You will have the knowledge that you took the life of an honest, decent man and took him away from his friends and family - that is something you will not be able to escape."

Police now hope the tragic case will serve as a warning to others who continue to flout the law.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Revell, of Manor Lane, Verwood, was driving to a friend's house after a night out in Bournemouth town centre when his car struck Christopher Losper and his float as he delivered milk in Station Road, West Moors just before 4.30am on August 26 last year.

Mr Losper suffered massive head injuries and was thrown 40ft across the road.

Revell, who had a passenger in the car and was being followed by a friend in another vehicle, failed to stop or report the accident to police.

Joanna Morrissey, prosecuting, told the court one of Revell's friends told him he believed he had hit a person but Revell still did nothing.

"Panic had set in" she told the court. "The group had been drinking and none knew what to do. Unfortunately what they did was go to bed and sleep."

The court heard Revell's red Nissan Bluebird was badly damaged and that he drove it two miles from the accident scene to a friend's home with two flat tyres and a smashed windscreen caused by the impact. He handed himself in to police eight hours later, said Miss Morrissey.

The court heard Revell had passed his driving test six months previously and had a speeding conviction.

When interviewed Revell claimed he was distracted when he received a text message but his phone records showed he had sent and received several messages in the lead-up to the crash.

The text "conversation" was with a girl he had met during his night out, the court heard.

Revell, who works for his father's demolition business, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.

He received a four-year sentence and was also banned from driving for five years, his licence endorsed and he was ordered to take an extended driving test before returning to the road.

Several members of his family and friends burst into tears in the packed public gallery when the sentence was handed down.