Jamie McDonald, 19, was sentenced to two years and three months in jail on Monday, July 14, for causing death by dangerous driving after he crashed his car, killing his girlfriend, Rebecca Gough, 16, from Bracknell, in February last year.

Rebecca's father, Brendan Gough, broke his silence this week to talk exclusively to the Bracknell Forest Standard and make a plea to everyone to change their attitudes to driving.

His comments came after the case in which the court heard McDonald had boasted about his dangerous driving on the website Bebo.

Mr Gough told Standard reporter Mike Pyle:

"Insofar as the range and scope of sentences that could have been given by the courts, it's hard to use the word pleased for anything under the circumstances, but it could have been as low as 12 months.

"The aggravating factor was bad character. The catalogue of witness statements and what he [Jamie] said on Bebo made quite a difference. It effectively moved it into the next bracket.

"If this was just some random accident from someone who was otherwise a good driver it would be different. But the senselessness of what happened makes this a different thing.

"We were concerned before the accident and we tried to dissuade Rebecca from associating with him because of what we knew about his driving. To be notorious for driving badly and having crashes is just staggering.

"We're not ones to come forward to the press. Initially we didn't want to but the main reason we have is to get across exactly how dangerous it is driving a motor vehicle dangerously.

"Dangerous driving leads to a senseless waste of life. We want to stop other people going through what we've been through

"I find it slightly odd that if someone was careless with another lethal weapon, the whole thing would be taken more seriously by the public and the courts.

"You see dangerous driving on a day-to-day basis. There seriously needs to be a shift in people's driving attitudes. We want people to shift their views away from cars being a way of expressing their egos and using them as status symbols.

"Society needs to change its views. Rules and laws can only do so much. We'd heard about one or two incidents of Jamie driving badly and a couple of times he dropped her off and we heard him pulling away a bit fast but we didn't know the half of it.

"There had been a bit of tension in the weeks running up to the crash as we were trying to steer her away from him. If we knew the full extent of the problem we would have been more forceful in trying to steer her away from him, even to at the risk of alienating her.

"We were surprised that she was associating with this person and putting her safety at stake. The problem is that once something like this happens you can spend your whole life looking back at what you could have done differently.

""No sentence could address the matter or make it right for us or bring her back. There needs to be some way of making people feel that they are responsible for their actions when they are behind the wheel of a car.

"There needs to be a change in people's attitudes toward driving. I agree with awareness training for new drivers. The Police have a safety campaign called Safe Drives Stay Alive where they have sessions where people who have had accidents or lost loved ones in accidents talking at schools and community centres and such.

"I went to one such session and realised that when you think you're managing or coping that in actual fact you're just getting better at avoiding getting out of your comfort zone.

"[Rebecca and Jamie] had gone out together in early 2006 but they split up and we were quite pleased. They got back together on Boxing Day 2006 and after that we tried to steer them apart but you don't want to damage the relationship with your children.

"Rebecca was very much a people person. She always left an impact on those she met. She was a young person with her whole life ahead of her. She was receiving job offers even after she died. She worked at the Weather Vane pub on work experience and was so well liked they called her back. The world was her oyster.

"Rebecca has four brothers; Chris, 26, Ben, 25, Nicky, 15 and Callum, nine. Chris doesn't drive. Ben drives but he's even more conscious and aware. It really focuses your attention.

"We have heard very very little from [Jamie] since the crash. We haven't had any indication of any remorse. The indication from the defence in court is that he was remorseful but he's shown no signs of that. I don't want to get into mud slinging but this would have been different if he was full of remorse.

"We try not to focus on him because we have enough to deal with the loss of our daughter. Negative emotions can't help you. You can get consumed by anger. This is something we will carry with us forever. I don't think we are ready to add anger and bitterness to it, it is bad enough as it is.

"One poignant thing was that, although Rebecca was quiet on Jamie McDonald's driving, about a week before the crash she told us which song she would like played at her funeral. I don't know what was going through her mind at the time.

"That song was 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol. You hear it on the Radio and TV a lot and it never gets any easier.

"As we go through life now it's always on our minds and things like that are what take you out of your comfort zone and just stop you in your tracks.

"If any good can come from this it's that it might make people think about the way they drive."