To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page A woman who downed tequila and wine then killed a friend in a crash has been jailed for 12 years. Karla Dodds, 25, from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, finished a shift at Whitley Bay bar in November 2022 then went on to a nightclub where she had the wine and tequila. After this, she offered to drive six friends to a party, one in the boot and four in the back seat. One passenger, Truman Hub, stuck his head out of the back window to feel the wind shortly before the crash on the A191 near North Tyneside General Hospital. Dodds then fled the scene, leaving behind Hub who was fatally injured from the crash. When she was arrested, a breath test showed she was twice over the legal drink drive limit. Bodycam footage taken during her arrest showed Dodds sobbing and asking: ‘Who’s dead?’ At Newcastle Crown Court, James Doyle, defending, said Dodds wanted to train to become a nurse. Dodds asked ‘who’s dead?’ when she was arrested by police He also said she was a runner and rugby sevens player and had attended Millfield School for a year but had grown homesick. Mr Doyle described Dodds as a ‘warm-hearted and kindly soul’, and added: ‘She has her issues like everyone else on this planet and she was and is a live-wire.’ He said she has acknowledged she must change and ‘seek calmer waters within herself’. But when he claimed she felt remorse, the judge said there was no evidence to support that, and said: ‘She left the scene and ran away, she did her best to get away with it.’ In a victim statement read in court, Mr Hub’s grieving mother Rozalind said: ‘Truman was full of sunshine, laughter, mischief and love whose presence would light up any room.’ Dodds has been jailed for 12 years at Newcastle Crown Court (Picture: Northumbria Police/PA Wire) She said Dodds’ decision to run away from the crash was ‘wicked and cowardly’. The court heard Dodds previously survived a fatal crash in which she was a passenger. It also heard that she had not learned her lesson almost exactly two years after the tragic collision when she was stopped by police for speeding and was found to be twice over the limit for cannabis. Referring to the previous fatal accident which Dodds survived, Ms Tub said: ‘I thought that she would have learned her lesson when she was a passenger in a fatal car accident a few years earlier. ‘I think it is only natural that we feel hostile, anger and even hatred towards Miss Dodds, we can never forgive her for cutting our son’s life so short.’ The court heard that Hub stuck his head out of the rear window shortly before the crash (Picture: Northumbria Police/PA Wire) Judge Roger Thomas KC said Dodds was ‘highly intoxicated’ when she was behind the wheel, had been driving too fast and was convicted ‘on the back of overwhelming evidence’. He said it was loud in the car, people were singing and the front seat passenger had asked her to slow down before she crashed. He added that Dodds’ conviction and disqualification for drug driving after the fatal crash were also telling. Mr Thomas said: ‘Everything about the case shows self-pity rather than true remorse.’ Dodds was convicted for death by dangerous driving and he jailed her for 12 years and banned her from driving for 13 years and nine months. Sergeant Dave Roberts said outside court: ‘Dodds’ actions to drive under the influence and in such dangerous conditions – cramming six passengers into her small vehicle after a night out – has ultimately led to Truman losing his life. ‘Not only that but Dodds has demonstrated her lack of remorse after what happened, having been caught drug driving while waiting for her trial date at court. ‘She was convicted in January of this year having been found to be driving under the influence of drugs last November, just two years on. ‘While no result will ever take away the pain that has been caused, I hope the fact that Dodds will spend a significant period of time in prison will help to bring a sense of closure for the family. ‘A split decision to drive while under the influence can clearly ruin countless lives forever – and there is simply no excuse for putting other people at risk.’ Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.