A DRINK driver whose car crashed into a tree, killing a back seat passenger, has admitted causing her death by dangerous driving.

Carl Leonard, aged 27, of Mobberley Road, Breightmet, pleaded guilty to the offence, and driving with excess alcohol, when he appeared at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

Lindsay Neale, a 23-yearold home carer, was in Leonard’s Ford Focus, along with her boyfriend, Reece Armstrong, in March last year when the accident happened in Gilnow Road, Heaton.

They had been on their way to the home of Miss Neale’s parents in Little Lever for a family gathering as her brother, Karl, was home for the weekend from serving with the RAF.

Miss Neale, of Alder Street, Great Lever, suffered serious head injuries and had to be freed from the wreckage by firefighters.

She was pronounced dead at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Leonard, a friend of Miss Neale, and Mr Armstrong suffered minor injuries in the accident, as did the driver of a van which was also hit by the Ford Focus.

Miss Neale’s death devastated her parents, Peter and Karen, and the rest of her family.

Speaking shortly after her daughter’s death, Mrs Neale said: “She was really bubbly and always smiling and she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.”

At Bolton Crown Court, the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge William Morris, adjourned sentencing until March 12 to allow pre-sentence reports to be compiled.

Leonard was granted bail.