A DRUNK driver has admitted killing three boys, including a Basingstoke Academy player, as they walked to a 16th birthday party.

Jaynesh Chudasama, of Hayes, West London, was more than two-and-a-half times the limit and doing 71mph on a 60mph road when he ploughed into the teenagers, killing them instantly.

The 28-year-old car hire worker, who also had traces of cannabis in his system, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving during a hearing at the Old Bailey.

Semi-professional Basingstoke Academy footballer Harry Rice, 17, apprentice electrician George Wilkinson, 16, and labourer Josh McGuinness, also 16, had been among a group of friends walking to the party at Goals five-a-side football club at around 8.40pm on January 26.

The defendant had swung his Audi out to overtake another car when he lost control and hit the boys head on, the court heard.

Basingstoke Gazette: The black Audi car involved in the crash (Tony Kitchin/PA)

The victims flew into the air and the defendant’s car spun around in the road.

He and his passenger got out and ran off, pursued by two boys, who dragged the driver back to where their friends lay mortally injured.

One of them later admitted he had hit the driver over the head with a bottle to stop him getting away.

When police arrived, an officer went over to help Chudasama, and some of the youngsters asked why he was helping the man who had just killed their friends.

Judge Wendy Joseph QC noted that the boys were in a group of eight children when they were killed.

She said the tragedy that led to the “appalling” loss of life could have caused the deaths of more young people.

The victims had been old school friends from Harefield Academy in Uxbridge, the court heard.

The defendant hung his head and spoke softly as he entered his guilty pleas in a courtroom packed with tearful members of the boys’ families.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said funerals for two of the boys had yet to take place and no victim impact statements had been completed.

Sentencing was adjourned until Friday, 9 March.

The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years in prison.

Basingstoke Academy Football Club and Basingstoke Town FC paid tribute to Harry and the other victims with a minute’s silence at two recent games.

The Academy held its tribute on February 2 at their game with Oxford City FC, and the Dragons held their mark of respect on February 10 against Bishop’s Stortford.

Harry’s teammates have also renamed the Academy’s Friday five-a-side games the ‘Harry Rice five-a-side Friday’ in order to remember him on a weekly basis. The trophy presented to the winning team was also renamed in his memory.