A 27-YEAR-OLD man accused of racing his DJ friend moments before he died in a high-speed smash has described to a jury how the incident has left him "emotionally wrecked".

Bradford Crown Court has heard how Leigh Sedgwick, 28, could have been speeding at almost 100mph when he lost control of his high-powered Subaru Impreza car and crash into a lamp-post.

Mr Sedgwick's friend Jason Allen is alleged to have been racing with him in his souped-up Volkswagen Golf Gti just seconds before Mr Sedgwick careered out of control on the Asda roundabout in Bradford Road, Huddersfield early on July 16 last year.

Giving evidence on the second day of his trial yesterday Allen denied that he was a "boy racer" and said that he had not intentionally lied to the police about when he had fitted a more powerful engine into his Golf.

"I just got mixed up and my head was in bits," he told the court.

"I had just lost a friend of 15 years. I was emotionally wrecked.

"It's not easy to get over the death of a friend."

Allen, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, said that he had encountered Mr Sedgwick's Subaru by chance whilst he was driving sedately along Fartown Green Road on his way to his girlfriend's house.

He told the jury that he was doing around 25mph to 30mph when Mr Sedgwick overtook him at speed.

Allen, of Central Avenue, Fartown, Huddersfield, told police that it was then that he decided to have "a bit of fun" and increased his speed to around 60mph as he overtook the Subaru as they approached the roundabout.

That, he said, was the last time that he saw Mr Sedgwick's car.

He added that he had not realised there had been a crash and only found out about his friend's death when he was told by others later that day.

Collision investigator PC Alan Broadbent had earlier told the court that Mr Sedgwick had lost control when he clipped the kerb on a left-hand bench just before the roundabout.

He told Judge Roger Scott that he could have been doing up 97mph and was certainly going at no less than 79mph. PC Broadbent said that speed of the Golf could have been around 71mph just before it approached the roundabout.

Mr Sedgwick, a father-of-one, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple injuries.

The three passengers in the his car all survived but refused to give statements to the police.

The trial continues.