A drunk driver has admitted killing three boys as they walked to a 16th birthday party.
Jaynesh Chudasama, of Hayes, west London, was more than two-and-a-half times the limit and doing 71mph on a 60mph road when he ploughed into the teenagers, killing them instantly.
The 28-year-old car hire worker, who also had traces of cannabis in his system, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving during a hearing at the Old Bailey.
Semi-professional footballer Harry Rice, 17, apprentice electrician George Wilkinson, 16, and labourer Josh McGuinness, also 16, had been among a group of friends walking to the party at Goals five-a-side football club at around 8.40pm on January 26.
The defendant had swung his Audi out to overtake another car when he lost control and hit the boys head on, the court heard.
The black Audi car involved in the crash (Tony Kitchin/PA)
The victims flew into the air and the defendant’s car spun around in the road.
He and his passenger got out and ran off, pursued by two boys, who dragged the driver back to where their friends lay mortally injured.
One of them later admitted he had hit the driver over the head with a bottle to stop him getting away.
Meanwhile, a girl held George’s hand as he lay half in the road and half on the pavement with terrible head and neck injuries.
He had died instantly, along with Joshua, who was struck with such force that he was thrown over a fence and into a cemetery.
Harry was carried on the bonnet of the car until it crashed into the cemetery wall, crushing his body, the court heard.
When police arrived, an officer went over to help Chudasama, and some of the youngsters asked why he was helping the man who had just killed their friends.
Jaynesh Chudasama (wearing a hospital gown) arriving in a police van at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in London, where he was charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving (Yui Mok/PA)
Judge Wendy Joseph QC noted that the boys were in a group of eight children when they were killed.
She said the tragedy that led to the “appalling” loss of life could have caused the deaths of more young people.
The victims had been old school friends from Harefield Academy in Uxbridge, the court heard.
The defendant hung his head and spoke softly as he entered his guilty pleas in a courtroom packed with tearful members of the boys’ families.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said funerals for two of the boys had yet to take place and no victim impact statements had been completed.
Sentencing was adjourned until Friday March 9.
The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years in prison.