A police officer has said the death of a 17 year old youth was "entirely avoidable".

Acting Inspector Terry Stephen was speaking after 18 year-old Karl Merriman was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for causing the teenager's death, by dangerous driving.

Merriman, who admitted the offence, was also banned from driving for four years and ordered to re-take his driving test.

Michael Kelly lost his life in an incident at Hillberry, around this time last year.

Edward Oldham reports (text, below, from attached audio file):

Speaking after the judgement, acting inspector Stephen, who led the investigation into the death, said it had been a long and detailed case and paid tribute to his team who had pieced together the sequence of events on May 3 last year when the incident happened.

He said Merriman, who was 17 at the time, had only passed his test two days before the accident and had driven massively beyond the limits of his skill and experience, with tragic consequences. The tragedy, he said, was completely avoidable and he echoed Deemster Doyle's words that young people need to think about the consequences of their actions when driving a car.

In this case the temptation to drive too fast and irresponsibly had horrendous results and led to the loss of a young life.

Inspector Stephen said his thoughts were with the Kelly family as the first anniversary of Michael Kelly's death approached.