A WORCESTER schoolgirl died after the car in which she was travelling ploughed into a hedge and turned over, a jury was told

Katherine Davies suffered a broken neck in the accident on a right hand bend at Great Witley, near Stourport.

It has been alleged 19-year-old James Fisher was driving his Rover Metro too fast for a winding country road and not concentrating.

The car careered on to the wrong side of the road, veered back, hit a hedge and rolled over, said William Rickarby, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court yesterday.

Fisher and two passengers, Luke Mackay and Robert Frost, who were all going to a nightclub in Hereford, clambered out covered in blood.

But Katherine, aged 16, of Bromyard Downs, Bromyard, died instantly in the front passenger seat.

Fisher, of Holly Brook House, Frenchlands, Lower Broadheath, near Worcester, denies causing death by dangerous driving on the B4197 Martley to Great Witley road on September 21 last year.

"As he approached the last bend before Great Witley he was going too fast and not concentrating," said Mr Rickarby. "He was looking in his rear-view mirror at the two young men in the back. It was a road which needed care."

Giving evidence, Mr Mackay, from Bromyard, said Fisher picked him up from Worcester Sixth Form College.

He and King's School sixth former Katherine went to Fisher's home where they drank wine - but the defendant abstained.

They picked up Mr Frost from Hallow, near Worcester, and were on their way to a party before the nightclub when they crashed just before 9pm.

Mr Mackay said he was singing a song and was told by Fisher to stop just before the crash bend because the noise was distracting.

"He seemed to be in control," he said.

He recalled Fisher braking at the bend before the car began skidding. Mr Mackay needed stitches in a head wound.

Asked by defence counsel Peter Arnold if he felt safe driving with Fisher, he replied: "Always."

Amy Weddell-Hall was driving towards her home in Martley with her boyfriend when she saw Fisher's car lights on her side of the road.

The car was travelling "far too fast", she said.

Another motorist, Michael Grey, found the upturned car after it had passed him showering sparks. The car was partly in a ditch making a search in the dark difficult. He then saw Katherine's arm sticking out of the vehicle.

The trial continues.