Jaimey Leigh Fellows, 32, was wearing a seatbelt, but it snapped in the high-speed crash.

He was driving so fast sparks flew off the car. He overtook vehicles on double yellow lines. The car reached 200 kilometres an hour, right before he lost control.

The vehicle crossed the centre line and collided with a fence post, which hit the passenger's door. It then barrel-rolled several times. On the last roll, his passenger's seatbelt snapped. She was thrown from the car, and died.

The accident trail covered 200 metres and looked like a plane crash site.

Now Craig Richard Bennett, 36, has been jailed for causing the high-speed crash near Burnham, which killed Jaimey Leigh Fellows, 32, last October. They had only recently become a couple.

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At his sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday, Fellows' father said in a victim impact statement she was "killed by the actions of an idiot".

Her mother called the speed involved horrific, and the driving reckless and dangerous. She said Bennett made a terrible mistake.

She said she attended a restorative justice meeting with Bennett, where he apologised. She said she would like to work with Bennett, when he is released from prison, to teach youth drivers the dangers of speeding.

​Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett said Fellows' was a needless death, and there was no justification for Bennett to be travelling at over 200kmh with no regard for his passenger or the public on the road.

Witnesses said he was overtaking cars in no passing areas, and sparks were coming off his car.

Defence counsel Andrew McCormick said Bennett was broken physically and mentally, and had been seriously injured. He accepted full responsibility and apologised to the victim's family.

Bennett offered the family emotional harm reparation of $10,000.

Judge Brian Callaghan said he could not find another case where the speed at the time of the crash was more than 200kmh. Bennett earlier admitted a charge of driving dangerously causing death.

He said Bennett was driving on Main South Rd at 12.03am on October 21. He sped up when the speed limit was 80km an hour and continued at speed when he overtook a truck on double yellow lines.

At Burnham he overtook a car, but lost control of his car, crossed the centre line, and collided with a fence post which hit the passenger's door.

The car barrel-rolled a number of times, and Fellows' seatbelt snapped and she was thrown out of the car on the last roll. The car came to rest 200 metres from where the crash happened.

The judge said it was inevitable a car travelling at this speed would come to a grievous end, and dangerous speed was a deliberate action.

He jailed Bennett for two years and eight months, disqualified from driving for four years and ordered him to pay the reparation he offered.