A teenage girl died when a young man who she “fancied” crashed her father’s car, killing her and a male passenger and injuring two more female passengers, a court heard.

Sophia Khan, 16, took her father’s four-seater BMW M3 coupe and drove it to a pub in Loughton, Essex, with Alana Cooper, then aged 16, and Mae Hunt, then aged 17, in August 2019, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Meyrick Williams, prosecuting, said that the girls went back to the Hollybush pub where the 23-year-old defendant Kane Faulkner-Wild and Max Halcrow, then aged 21, were.

The prosecutor said that Faulkner-Wild, of Connaught Avenue, Chingford, was behind the wheel of the vehicle when it crashed into a tree at around 2am on August 24.

The crash, on a righthand bend on Goldings Hill in Loughton, killed Ms Khan and Mr Halcrow and injured Ms Cooper and Ms Hunt, Mr Williams said.

He said the car was “torn almost in two” by the crash, and Ms Khan and Mr Halcrow “stood no chance”.

Mr Williams said that passing police officers noticed the crashed vehicle and saw Faulkner-Wild by the driver’s door.

“What the defendant appears to say is he has no recollection or a recollection of earlier events of the night but not of the crash,” Mr Williams said.

“He has made no admission that he was the driver.”

Ms Khan was trapped in the front passenger seat with her seatbelt on, with Mr Halcrow trapped in the seat behind her, the prosecution barrister said, with Ms Hunt in the seat behind the driver and Ms Cooper “perched in the middle” between the two rear passengers.

Ms Cooper spent a month in hospital and suffered “life-changing injuries”, Mr Williams said, while Ms Hunt spent a week in hospital.

At the scene, the defendant claimed Ms Khan had been driving.

“Mae Hunt and Alana Cooper say he (Faulkner-Wild) was driving at the time of the collision and too fast and ignoring a request to slow down,” Mr Williams said.

He said that Ms Khan took the BMW and drove it, along with Ms Cooper and Ms Hunt, back to the pub.

“(Ms Khan’s) father had been away since Thursday when Sophia got her GCSE results,” said Mr Williams.

“She did well.

“We understand she fancied or had a crush on the defendant.”

The prosecutor said that the defendant’s DNA was on the driver’s airbag and his fingerprints were on the driver’s door.

He said that Faulkner-Wild suffered injuries “consistent with him being the driver”.

The prosecutor said that the defendant sent a Whatsapp message after the crash saying “I’m ducked”, which he suggested was a typo for an expletive.

Faulkner-Wild denies causing the deaths of Ms Khan and Mr Halcrow by dangerous driving.

He also denies causing their deaths by careless driving while over the drink-drive alcohol limit.

Faulkner-Wild is alleged to have had 103 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his blood, over the legal limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

He also denies causing serious injury to Ms Cooper and Ms Hunt by dangerous driving.

The trial, estimated to take up to three weeks, continues.