A DRIVER who ploughed into a teenage cyclist while sending a text from her mobile phone was today jailed for four years.

Kiera Coultas, 25, was also banned from driving for five years and ordered to take an extended test when that ban ends.

The hotel manageress was answering a text message from her estranged husband when she crashed into cyclist Jordan Wickington who had jumped a red light at a major road junction in Southampton.

Jurors at the city crown court heard how Coultas had left the Ocean Village home of her boyfriend and was driving to the Fountain Court Hotel, Hythe, to pick up her four-year-old daughter to enable her husband, Chris, to go to work.

But Coultas - who had two previous convictions for speeding in West Quay Road - received a text from her husband as she approached the junction with Mountbatten Way.

The message ran: 'Hi, hope ur up, have no bread if you want a sandwich, let me know."

Coultas - who was doing 45mph in the 30mph limit - was fatally unaware of the teenage cyclist who had ridden through a red light in Mountbatten Way and collided with him.

Mr Wickington, 19, of Woolston Road, Netley Abbey, suffered serious head injuries and died hours later in Southampton General Hospital.

Coultas denied a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, saying she was under no pressure to get home and had not been texting at the time of the accident.

But jurors convicted her and she was bailed pending reports.

Today, Judge Jeremy Burford QC said the offence was so serious only a custodial sentence would do.

He said he could have jailed her for four-and-a-half years but reduced that by six months because of mitigating factors including her age, the fact she has a four-year-old daughter, her charity work and her shock and remorse over the incident.

The judge told Coultas: "You sent a text from your mobile phone having just received one. It was at precisely the worst time because you failed to see the cyclist who was crossing a road and had gone through a red light. Travelling at 45mph you hit him."

Speaking after the sentencing Jordan's step brother Dan Hickman, 32, who works for an investment bank, said he hoped that case would act as a deterrent.

He said: "We are satisfied that this will hopefully be a deterrent for others. There are no winners in a case like this.