A man who lost control of his Porsche 911 and smashed into a van which killed his passenger has been jailed.

Thomas Clare, of Steventon Road, Drayton, crashed in Milton Road, Didcot, on December 18, 2008, killing 36-year-old James Candy.

At Oxford Crown Court, Clare, who was described as a classically trained drummer, admitted causing death by careless driving.

The crash happened at about 2pm after the pair had driven from Clare’s house to Sainsbury’s to buy some pasta for lunch.

Richard Sharpe, prosecuting, said the 3.4-litre sports car was “doing more than 40mph but not more than 60, which is the speed limit”.

But he said Clare had told police he had suffered from “lift-off oversteer”, in which cars lose grip when a driver takes their foot off the accelerator while cornering.

Neville Rudston, defending, said his client had owned the car since June 2008 and had never been caught speeding in eight years of driving.

He said: “This was not a brash young man showing off a new fast car,” and added: “There’s no dispute that he was obeying the driving limit. It may well be that he was driving well below it.”

The court heard the police assessment of the scene stated: “Road surface damp. Overcast, but dry.”

Mr Rudston said Clare was well versed in driving theory, including lift-off oversteer and counter steering to correct a slide, but had fitted different types of tyres to the front and rear wheels.

He said: “Whilst everything he had done was perfectly legal, it is clear he had been badly advised.

“Fitted to the rear were tyres that did not match the front. Porsche recommend that the exact grip ability be matched on the front and rear.”

He added: “What is right is he was driving too fast for the conditions at the time.”

Jailing Clare for four months and banning him from driving for 18 months, Judge Julian Hall said: “No one sets off of a morning to have an accident of this kind and the most awful thing is they come out of the blue for the victims’ relatives so they are totally unprepared for anything.”

He added: “You were at the wheel of a very powerful car and that gives you the responsibility to use that power carefully, and quite simply on this occasion you drove too fast for the road.

“However one dresses it up and however one analyses every centimetre of the road surface, you went round there too fast and you couldn’t cope with it, and the result was your friend and someone’s son and brother was killed.”