THE family of a teenager who died in a car crash spoke of their continuing heartache yesterday as the vehicle’s driver was sentenced.

Callum MacKinnon was a backseat passenger in a car that hit a tree on the B4020 Shilton Road between Burford and Carterton on September 7 last year.

Driver Stephen Hocknell, who was found guilty by jurors of causing death by careless driving, was given a community order at Oxford Crown Court.

The 21-year-old, of Hollybush Road, Carterton, was driving “a little too fast” as he clipped a verge and went off the road, Recorder Simon Blackford said.

Hocknell was told to do 200 hours’ unpaid work and pay £1,000 costs.

He was banned from driving for 18 months and must take an extended retest.

In a statement, Mr MacKinnon’s family said: “While justice has been served and Stephen Hocknell has been convicted of killing our wonderful son through an act of mindless and unnecessary stupidity it will never be enough to compensate the loss we and his great many friends feel.”

Recorder Blackford praised the “dignity and restraint” of Mr MacKinnon’s family and added: “What the court is dealing with in a case of this nature is, however terrible its consequences, an error of judgement.

“The family will no doubt see it as an extremely lenient sentence but the court is not in any way undervaluing the loss of life or suffering.”