A judge has warned "lessons must be learnt" from the death of a teenager who was not wearing a seatbelt when the car he was in crashed.
Neither front seat passenger Benjamin Fairlie, who died, nor the seriously injured driver, Louis Fleetwood, were wearing their belts.
Fleetwood lost control of his Renault Clio on a bend in Countesthorpe Road, near Blaby, and crashed into a tree.
Judge Simon Hammond spoke out as Fleetwood changed his plea yesterday – on the day of trial – to admit causing Ben's death by careless driving on September 10, 2011.
The judge said: "It's a terrible tragedy. If it's any consolation to the family of Ben Fairlie, the message has to go out to young people, and everyone else, that you don't set off in a car without wearing a seatbelt."
Fleetwood (21), of Lacey Close, Lutterworth, was driving from South Wigston to Countesthorpe when he failed to negotiate a right-hand bend in rain.
His vehicle clipped the kerb on the passenger-side causing it to mount the pavement, travel over a grass verge and plummet into a ditch and a tree, at 8.30pm.
Ben, a 16-year-old apprentice shop-fitter, of Rosebank Road, Countesthorpe, died in hospital. He and close friend Fleetwood were thrown from the car because they were not wearing their seatbelts, said Mary Prior, prosecuting.
Judge Hammond said: "The lesson from this tragedy is everyone should belt-up."
The judge said it was arguable that Ben might "not have been killed or sustained serious injury" had he been wearing a seatbelt.
"It's the obligation of everyone to wear a seatbelt and the obligation of the driver to make sure everyone is doing so."
Judge Hammond said the incident was "a ghastly tragedy for both families".
On a personal note, the judge told Ben's family, in the public gallery at Leicester Crown Court: "I have three children and my youngest daughter is the same age as Ben was. Don't think, when she goes out, that I don't worry something like that might happen."
Before Fleetwood entered his guilty plea, defence counsel Philip Gibbs asked the judge for an early indication of the likely sentence.
He said: "It's a case of someone driving perfectly normally moments before making a mistake on a less than perfect bend in bad conditions."
The court heard Fleetwood's Renault Clio did not have a current MoT certificate, but that did not contribute to the crash as the car was road-worthy.
Mr Gibbs said: "Defects had been put right, but it hadn't been put forward for an MoT."
The court heard that stretch of road has since been resurfaced.
Mrs Prior said: "The defendant has no recollection as to how this incident occurred."
Judge Hammond said, given all the circumstances, he was prepared to pass a suspended jail sentence at the next hearing, on June 28. Fleetwood was released on bail
He said: "These cases are desperately sad and the most difficult for judges to deal with. No sentence can ever reflect the loss of a life."
Ben was born in Whetstone and lived in Countesthorpe for six years with his parents, Debbie and Stuart, and younger sister, Ellie.
He had studied at Countesthorpe College, where he helped design a skate park for teenagers in the village.
