The mother of a teenager killed in car crash caused by her best friend's drink driving has said being told lies about her daughter's final moments was the ultimate betrayal.

Mikeala Stevens, 17, died after being thrown from the car driven by 18-year-old Georgia Marney when it crashed into a telegraph pole in Overbury Crescent, New Addington, on August 28 last year.

Miss Stevens' mother, Penny Cooke, said while she accepts Marney didn't intentionally kill Mikeala, she cannot forgive her for her actions, or the lies she told shortly after the accident.

Tearfully recalling the moment she learnt of Mikeala's death, Miss Cooke, 39, said: "At about 3.45am the police came round and said Mikeala had been in a car accident.

"I thought I would be going to the hospital and rushed around looking for clothes, but another officer came to the house and said she had been pronounced dead."

Hours later, Miss Cooke received a hospital bedside call from Marney's mother, Amber.

She said the police were outside the door and although they shouldn't be speaking with her, Georgia was desperate to talk.

Miss Cooke said: "I spoke to Georgia and told her it was ok and not to worry, she was crying down the phone and kept apologising.

"She had given the impression she had done everything she could, so I told her I forgave her.

"She said she had run to Mik and held her, but I later learnt she was found hiding in a nearby garden, which meant she left her.

"What kind of friend does that?

"If that was your friend, you would have stayed and done everything, and that is the bit I don't understand."

Marney, who had been smoking cannabis and drinking hours before the smash, became verbally abusive when police arrived and refused to have a breath test or give a blood sample at hospital.

It is still not known how much of the substances were in her system at the time of the crash.

"Mikeala was stupid to get into the car, she knew she didn't have a driving licence," said Miss Cooke.

"If only I had been awake when they left, there is no way she would have been in that car."

Although Miss Cooke acknowledges the girls were close, she said she did not consider Marney to be her daughter's best friend.

She added: "Two weeks before the crash Georgia punched Mikeala in the face when drunk.

"When I asked her why she didn't hit her back, she said, 'How could I hit back my best friend?'. But how can any 'best friend' do that to her?"

Paying tribute to her eldest child, she said she thinks about her "lovely and bubbly daughter every minute of the day".

"Mik could have you in fits of laughter in seconds, she did really well in school and was growing out of her teenage years into a young lady," she added.

"She had a heart of gold and so many friends, so many people loved her."

Last week, Miss Cooke was in Croydon Crown Court to see Marney jailed for three and a half years for what the judge described as "grave and wicked offences".

Miss Cooke said: "There will never be enough justice in this world, never. She took away the most precious thing from me. I accept that she most probably is sorry, but that doesn't mean I forgive her.

"If she had stayed with Mik I could accept she did everything she could, but her whole attitude since the accident stinks.

"I don't care about the sentence, I just don't ever want to see her again and as long as she stays away from my family, we can begin to deal with each day as it comes."