A reckless driver hit speeds of up to 145mph before one of his passengers was catapulted out of the rear window.

Eoin Duncan, 22, was carrying more friends in his Honda Civic Type R than he had seatbelts when he smashed into a tree.

Witnesses testified that at one point the vehicle was travelling so fast it became airborne after a rise in the road before Mr Duncan eventually lost control on a bend.

The force of the impact caused a 15-year-old boy to be flung through the rear window, resulting in injuries so severe that he spent a prolonged period in intensive care following the accident.

A trial at Forfar Sheriff Court heard Mr Duncan had been joyriding roads in Angus, including the A92 between Carnoustie and Ethiebeaton, and on back roads north of Carnoustie, where the crash occurred.

The car reached its top speed of 145mph on a stretch of dual-carriageway.Two of the occupants of the car suffered injuries including a broken arm, fractured sinus, face head and lung contusions and a scalp wound.

Fiscal depute Joanne Smith, summing up the case to jurors, said: "When he lost control of the car he didn't just make a mistake, he wasn't just caught out - it was entirely due to the manner of his driving.

"He was carrying more passengers than he had seatbelts. That was a risk he deliberately ignored. He makes his car airborne with his foot to the floor and he then crashes the car. It was a high impact crash.

"What we get is a clear impression of not a careful, measured driver but a car being driven at dangerously excessive speed."

Duncan, 22, of Caesar Avenue, Carnoustie, who had denied driving dangerously, was convicted by a jury over the incident in March 2014.

Sheriff Gregor Murray jailed him for 30 months and banned him from the road for five years.

He told Duncan he had bought a car "with a reputation for high performance" and said he had gone out that day with the sole intention of "showing off".

The sheriff added: "The jury have found you guilty of what I regard as a very serious charge on what I regard as overwhelming evidence against you."