TEENAGER Riley Smith drove the wrong way round a roundabout and jump-ed a red light, then crashed into a car, killing a Mon-mouth couple, a court heard.

The 19-year-old disqualified driver jeered and gestured at other road users as he sped through a red light, just before crashing into Patrick and Kathleen Hossack, Gloucester crown court heard.

Patrick Hossack, 76, and wife Kathleen, 78, of The Rickfield, off Hereford Road, died when his Astra van collided with their Seat Arosa near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, on February 25.

Michael Longman, prosecuting, told Judge Jamie Tabor, QC, that Mr and Mrs Hossack were driving along the A46 towards Tewkesbury.

"In what was a highly reckless manoeuvre Smith pulled out to overtake another car and he hit the Seat in what was almost a head-on collision," he said.

Mr Hossack, a retired architect and wartime Spitfire pilot, and his wife, a retired dentist, who moved from Rugby to Monmouth following their retirement, were killed instantly.

Smith, of Burnett Court, Doxey, Stafford, and his passengers, suffered minor injuries. Mr Longman said Smith bought the van for £1,200 on February 17 - even though he was still a disqualified driver.

On the 25th, he said, several motorists were shocked by Smith's lack of care and hostility to other road users. "One, Jonathon Riley, was travelling on the Tewkesbury relief road with his brother," said Mr Longman.

"At one roundabout he saw two vehicles side by side with the passenger windows adjacent to one another.

"The defendant's vehicle was the one that was facing the wrong way, and it was clear to Mr Riley that he must have driven the wrong way around the roundabout to get into that position."

A short time later another motorist saw Smith "deliberately" drive through a red light on the Tewkesbury relief road.

Smith then tried to overtake a Corsa and hit the Hossacks' Seat at around 70mph.

"Traces of cannabis and cocaine were found in his blood after the accident but we accept these would not have affected his driving," said Mr Longman, adding Smith was under a two-year driving ban imposed in January 2001 for dangerous driving.

Ray Tully, defending, said: "He bought the van so he could set up his own business providing a jet washing service. One of the people in the van with him was assisting while the other was someone he had been giving a lift to."

He added a medical report showed Smith was not proficient in judging the cause and effect of his actions, forward planning or gauging the intentions of others.

"He has an IQ of between 68 and 77," he said.

Passing sentence Judge Tabor told Smith that only his guilty pleas to charges of death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance, acted in his favour.

Smith was sent to a young offenders institute for six years and banned from driving for eight years.

Pictured: The Seat Arosa car, right, in which Monmouth couple Patrick and Kathleen Hossack were killed when it was hit by a Vauxhall Astra van driven by disqualified driver Riley Smith, 19