A DRIVER in a crash which killed a Swindon teenager has been warned he faces jail.

Geoffrey Fairburn, 29, lost control of his BMW on a bend, and it slid broadside on into an oncoming Volkswagen Polo.

BMW passenger Amal Patel, 19, a go-karting friend of Fairburn's, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident last August.

Fairburn, of Gooch Street, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving by a jury at Swindon Crown Court.

Judge Tom Longbotham adjourned sentencing until January 12, pending reports, but warned Fairburn he faced a custodial sentence.

Witness Sarah Blay, from Marlborough, who was driving the car behind the Polo, had told the court: "I suddenly saw this BMW come round the bend on both sides of the road with the side facing us, and I can remember shouting 'Oh my God'. I then checked in my rear view mirror to make sure there wasn't anyone behind me, and stopped my car as quickly as possible.

"The Volkswagen had hit the Polo as far as I can remember on the passenger door."

Amal Patel, a former pupil of Wroughton infants and junior schools and Commonweal School, was a motor sport enthusiast who was on his way to a day's karting when he died.

A second passenger in the BMW received minor injuries and Polo driver Carrie-Anne Baker, 29, from Marlborough, broke her collar bone.

The accident happened on the A346 Swindon to Marlborough road at Ogbourne St Andrew.

Amal's father, Snehal, who split from his Swindon-based wife Jackie many years ago and now lives in California, spoke about his loss.

He said: "I can't even come close to giving you even a measure of what it is like to lose a son unless you have been through it yourself.

"I don't think that anything can come close to the daily pain and anguish that you go through."

For at least six months after the accident, he added, Amal's 10-year-old half sister woke up two or three times a week in the middle of the night.

Amal was the only child of Jackie, who lives in Cheney Manor Road.

Prosecutor Nick O'Brien said Fairburn lost control of the silver BMW, which was fitted with an on board television, on a right-hand bend as he drove toward Marlborough.

The court also heard that Fairburn suffered serious head injuries in the accident and could remember nothing about what had happened.