A FESTIVAL-GOER who killed three friends, all from Kent, in a horrific crash after taking three ecstasy tablets and falling asleep at the wheel has been jailed for four years.

Theresa Clarke, 28, was driving home from the V Festival in Staffordshire last year in a Vauxhall Zafira people carrier when she veered off the M25 near Brentwood in Essex.

Passengers Andrew Lucas, 21, from Maidstone, and Joanna Walker, 18, from nearby Staplehurst, were hurled from the car and died from multiple injuries.

Paul Smith, 26, also from Maidstone, was sitting in the passenger seat and was killed instantly when the Zafira crashed through a wooden fence, forcing panels of wood through the windows.

Clarke was left fighting for her life and had to be cut free from the car along with the surviving passengers, Rob Merchant, 22, from Maidstone, and Jenny Oliver, also in her early 20s.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Clarke admitted she had fallen asleep at the wheel and later confessed to taking half an ecstasy tablet during the pop festival.

But toxicology tests revealed she had probably taken up to three pills during the day or taken a tablet shortly before leaving to drive home.

Clarke admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Robert Ellison, prosecuting, said all five friends had spent the day at the V festival on August 20 last year and had hired the car, with Clarke agreeing to do the driving.

'Both Jenny Oliver and Rob Merchant said that they had taken ecstasy during the day and alcohol had also been consumed by the passengers but certainly not to any great extent by the defendant.

"She was later to admit that she had also taken ecstasy during the day."

The five left the festival between 11pm and midnight and Clarke made two stops on the way south before reaching the M25 in the early hours of August 21, the court heard.

Mr Ellison went on: "At about 3am, whilst driving on the M25, the defendant fell asleep at the wheel. It seems likely that all the occupants of the car were asleep or nearly so at the time.'

The road bore to the right between junctions 28 and 29 of the motorway but the Zafira kept on going straight, veering across the inside lane and forcing a lorry to slam on the brakes before leaving the road.

The Zafira, which was travelling at more than 80mph according to one witness, came to a halt about 120m from the road after hitting the fence and turning over.

Paramedics found the bodies of Mr Lucas and Miss Walker lying in the road nearby after they were thrown clear, said Mr Ellison. He added: "The result of the crash has been described by those attending the scene as horrific.

"The car had crashed through a wooden fence and tumbled several times, coming to rest on its side.

"Parts of the wooden fence had entered the vehicle. They caused severe injuries to the defendant herself but also fatal injuries to Paul Smith who had been sitting next to her in the front passenger seat."

"Miss Clarke admitted to both the surviving passengers that she had fallen asleep at the wheel."

The court heard how a wooden stake entered Clarke's stomach and she lost a finger in the crash.

She agreed to a blood test but was less than truthful about the amount of drugs she had taken. She admitted that she had taken ecstasy during the day but said that she had taken half a tablet.

"The analysis of her blood revealed a relatively high level of the drug consistent with her taking three tablets during the day or taking a tablet shortly before leaving the festival."

The court heard that ecstasy can cause drowsiness, lack of co-ordination and giddiness after the initial high wears off after about four hours and the drug is "incompatible" with driving a motor vehicle.

Clarke, of Nevill Road, Uckfield, East Sussex, admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Sentencing Clarke to four years jail Judge William Kennedy said: "The consumption of class A drugs before you got behind the wheel and the fact you were in a state of tiredness and coming down from the drugs raises the level of this offence and your culpability."

Clarke, who was also banned from driving for three years, sobbed as she was led from the dock.