A KURDISH man who went on the run after admitting causing the deaths of two friends by dangerous driving was given a five-year jail sentence in his absence yesterday.

Farhad Latef, 29, who lived in Penylan Road, Cardiff, admitted causing the deaths of Ser-wan Mustafa, 21, and Harfi Salar, 18, by dangerous driving, in a crash near Newport on January 18 last year.

Latef, who had been studying in Cardiff, was not present to hear the sentence imposed on him at Cardiff crown court yesterday.

The court heard that Latef had been driving his Mercedes 190E, which was later found to have bald rear tyres with the steel cord exposed. He had been travelling at up to 120mph on a trip to Birmingham, and passengers had told him to slow down.

Going through the Bryn-glas Tunnels he reduced his speed but then, as he took a bend, the car aqua-planed, veered broadside and went down an em-bankment.

Police arrived on the scene at 7.52pm and discovered the car had landed nose down and flipped over, throwing two friends, part of a group of five in the car, out. They were found lying in the mud.

Mustafa was dead and Salar was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital with "catastrophic injuries." Shortly afterwards a life-support machine was turned off.

Latef had taken the bodies of the two men back to Kurdistan "to make his peace with their families", it was stated, and then returned to the UK to face charges - before going on the run.

Yesterday the court heard that Latef was last heard of in Norway. It was also possible, said his defence counsel, Jeremy Jenkins, that he had returned to the Middle East.

Judge Roderick Denyer said: "He was a young man of promise and good character. There was clear evidence of a prolonged period of bad driving." When Latef lost control, the judge said, he was going at an excessive speed.

Latef was also disqualified from driving for ten years.