A MAN who drove after four pints of beer was speeding as he fatally hit a teenage moped rider.

Glen Holburt was jailed for four years at Oxford Crown Court yesterday after earlier admitting causing death by careless driving while over the alcohol limit.

Edward Lynch, the 16-year-old son of a policeman, was killed after the defendant’s Audi A6 hit his stationary moped on the B4031 Clifton road in Deddington on April 15.

The pupil at the Warriner School, Bloxham, was waiting to turn into a field hosting a birthday party.

The court heard Edward was not insured nor had he passed his compulsory basic training (CBT), but Judge Patrick Eccles said this was “not a material factor that mitigates (Holburt’s) responsibility”.

Holburt, of Duns Tew Road in Hempton, had 63 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath after drinking four pints of ale at the Deddington Arms before the crash. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Prosecutor Jane Davies said the defendant was travelling at “48mph in a 40mph limit” at the moment of impact and should have been able to see Edward’s scooter, with its brake light, rear light and nearside indicator on, from 147m away. The teenager’s helmet was unbuckled and came off in collision.

Simon Russell Flint, defending, handed the judge 30 references for his client, who was a company director driving 35,000 miles a year.

He added: “The family and friends of the deceased have been deprived of a much-loved and cherished young man who had all of his future ahead of him, and no punishment this court can impose will assist them in their grief.”

Judge Eccles, who noted Holburt’s drinking in the village pub close to the victim’s family home since the accident was “insensitive”, said: “You had the choice whether to drive or to ask (your wife) to drive (...) and it seems to me any man who has a choice like that and rejects it without thinking deserves a degree of condemnation.”

Holburt was also banned from driving for six years.