Supermarket worker killed herself over guilt of car crash which killed her girlfriend and half brother

A HEARTBROKEN girlfriend killed herself seven years after causing the death of her partner and half brother when she fell asleep at the wheel.

Guilt-stricken Joanne Taylor dozed off and smashed into a tractor while her girlfriend Melissa Barnham and half brother Daniel Lang were in the car.

Ms Taylor, 32, had driven 555 miles and had "little or no sleep in 22 hours" in a round trip to Liverpool before the horror smash on the A38 in Devon.

The driver, then 26, had driven to Liverpool to respond to an emergency call from her father.

She was given a nine month suspended jail term after she admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Exeter Crown Court in June 2010.

Ms Taylor had "unresolved bereavement issues" after the deaths of Ms Barnham, 23, and Daniel, 14, an inquest heard.