NINETEEN months after a driver died in a car crash, one of his passengers has finally cleared her name after being charged with causing the accident.

Former friends of the 17-year-old girl had alleged she grabbed the steering wheel of the Mini Cooper they were travelling in, causing it to swerve and hit a tree in Southborough Lane, Petts Wood.

She was sitting on the lap of another person on the car’s front passenger seat at the time of the crash.

The Mini driver, 21-year-old Lee Waite, died at the scene in the early hours of February 10 last year.

After a jury found her not guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey last Friday (September 11) the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, agreed to talk exclusively about her months of hell.

The girl has lost most of her friends after the rumour about her causing the accident was spread around Bromley Common where she lives.

She said: “When the rumour came around no-one would believe me and I did not go out.

"I did not want to live anymore and I used to cut myself.

“I was feeling depressed and not wanting to live and not wanting to wake up.

“I did not like to walk down the street because people used to throw stones at me.”

The girl, who was 15 at the time of the accident, was treated at Guy’s Hospital for depression and to stop her self-harming.

“I’m so angry that I have had 19 months of hell and putting me through a court and saying ‘not guilty’ won’t just take this all away.

“I cannot appreciate that people lied but I have to,” she said.

She added: “I have been called ‘Nigger Lover’ because my boyfriend is black.

“I had some man in a car trying to run me over and telling me I’m a killer.

“It did get me down but they cannot take my freedom.”

After the jury of six men and six women took under an hour to find her not guilty she is now working out what she wants to do with her life.

“It is such a relief that 12 people actually believed in me.

“If I ever saw them in the street I would get down on my hands and knees and say thank you."

“My dream is to be a barrister and a lawyer,” she said.

She is planning to return to college where she was studying for a diploma in information technology and is also looking forward to going on holiday with one of her sisters.

“I’m going to do something with my life.

“I told myself tell the truth and nothing but the truth and the truth will get you somewhere.”

The accident happened when Mr Waite was driving back from a petrol station with six passengers after buying cigarettes and alcohol.

Jurors at the Old Bailey heard the driver, of Narrow Way, Bromley, was over the legal drink driving limit and had taken ecstasy.

The car had passed an MOT test but Mr Waite had never passed a driving test and was uninsured at the time of the crash.