The driver in a crash that killed a 16 year old Falmouth girl last January said he hung around her as he was "grateful for friends," but denied he was showing off at the time she died.

Coree Ammon, 19, of Falmouth, told judges he had let crash victim Sophie Taylor and her twin sister Aimee drive his car at Ships and Castles car park on the night of the incident.

Giving evidence at Truro Crown Court this afternoon, Ammon was asked why he had let the girls drive the car just before the crash on January 3, 2016.

He said: "I suppose wanting attention. I was grateful for friends and I allowed them to have a drive of the car."

Later on he reaffirmed this, saying: "I'm someone who struggles with friends, so having some friends I was grateful for it."

In a police interview read to the court, it was reported that Mr Ammon said he had allowed Aimee to drive his car "because she went on and on and on", and he "wanted to have a relationship with her."

The court also heard a police interview from the day of the crash, in which Mr Ammon was said to have an "on off relationship with Aimee."

He was asked by Philip Lee, for the prosecution, if he had "a thing" for Sophie Taylor, to which he replied: "No, I did not have a thing for her."

He was also asked if he had been trying to impress the girls after he resumed driving, and said: "Not at all. They had their time in the car so they were happy."

The jury heard that Ammon had left Ships and Castles and had accelerated, and was in third gear when he got near to a right hand bend where the crash occurred.

Crash investigation evidence shows that the back end of the car slid out left, leading Ammon to oversteer towards the edge of the road. This oversteer combined with the rear tyre hitting the kerb led to the car leaving the road and spinning, hitting a tree branch three metres from the ground, before coming to rest on the passenger side with its underneath against a tree.

The car hit fence posts and saplings, along with a granite gate post, and the most severe damage was to the rear offside door. The area of the rear offside seatbelt had deployed, suggesting Sophie Taylor was most likely sitting on in that seat when the collision occurred.

A post mortem investigation found she died of multiple and unsurviveable unjuries and her death would have been very rapid.

It was also agreed between the police and an expert for the defence that the "critical speed" of the bend, above which a car would lose grip, is 48 miles per hour, and that it was more than likely that the car was travelling at or above that speed.

Ammon accepted that he was driving above 40 miles per hour, although he said he was not aware of that at the time. Asked by defence counsel Thomas Gareth Evans if he looked down at the speedometer when he realised he was going too fast, Ammon said: "No. I was concentrating on the road ahead."

He continued: "When I realised I had lost control my natural reaction was to slow down and brake."

He denied driving at high speed to show off, on the night in question or at any other time, saying "I'm not someone who drives like an idiot," although he did accept Mr Evans' assertion that his driving that night was "not of the highest standard."

And asked about Aimee Taylor asking him to slow down, he said: "She didn't say anything at all."

Asked by the judge, Simon Carr, why the incident happened, he said: "I don't have a reason. I felt the speed I was doing was okay."

The court also heard several character witness statements, which said Ammon was a "kind, gentle and caring person, from a loving family," and "laid back, with a quiet and mild manner."

The trial continues.