A 25-YEAR-OLD learner driver has been warned he faces a long spell behind bars after a jury ruled he was involved in a high speed road race that resulted in the death of a teenage mum.

Joseph Chance, from Stourbridge, was behind the wheel of his £300 Renault Clio when he and Dylan Stringer hit speeds up to 78mph at they hurtled along Hagley Road after drinking in Chicago's bar in town.

Stringer was driving a Ford Focus and after losing control of the car he ploughed into a bus stop and a wall.

Nadine Foster, aged 18, was a front seat passenger in the Focus and she died days later after suffering serious injuries in the April 2016 crash.

Chance, of Murcroft Road, Pedmore, had admitted driving dangerously but he denied a charge of causing the death of Miss Foster - a former student at Dudley College and Stourbridge's Pedmore Technology College - by dangerous driving.

But after retiring to consider the evidence for nearly four hours at the end of his trial - the seven-man five-woman jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the more serious charge.

Judge Michael Challinor remanded Chance, who showed no reaction as the guilty verdict was announced, in custody for the preparation of a pre-sentence report and he warned him: "A significant sentence of imprisonment is inevitable. I see no reason why you should be granted bail."

The court was told Stringer of Wychbury Road, Stourbridge, had already admitted causing the death of Miss Foster by driving dangerously at an earlier hearing.

The two men will now both be sentenced when they return to face the judge on November 7.

Paul Spratt, prosecuting, said Chance had nine previous convictions for offences including assault, taking a vehicle without the consent of the owner, obstructing police and making a threat to kill.

Mr Spratt had told the trial that although Chance had not been involved in the crash his actions were equally responsible for the death of the young mum.

He said the two men had been racing their cars after drinking in Stourbridge and they should have realised their driving could have resulted in a fatal accident.

But in evidence to the jury, Chance maintained he had not been racing and said he had no control over the driving of Stringer who was following his Clio.

Chance, who admitted he had been driving at speed, said: "I did not encourage him to follow me at the same speed. It was not a race to an agreed destination."