IPSWICH Town midfielder David Norris today vowed to stand by his friend and former team-mate Luke McCormick after he was jailed for killing two young boys in a road crash.

IPSWICH Town midfielder David Norris today vowed to stand by his friend and former team-mate Luke McCormick after he was jailed for killing two young boys in a road crash.

McCormick was driving back from Norris' wedding reception in Bolton when his Range Rover crashed into a people carrier on the M6 - killing ten-year-old Arron Peak and his eight-year-old brother, Ben.

The goalkeeper, a former team-mate of Norris at Plymouth Argyle, was jailed for seven years and four months after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving and drink-driving earlier this month.

While Norris understands the pain the Peak family and their friends are going through and the anger felt towards McCormick, he revealed that he intends to stay in contact with him.

He said: “Luke is a very good friend of mine and will remain a good friend of mine.

“I have stayed in touch with him and I will go and visit him in prison. He made a massive mistake and he is paying for that - quite rightly.”

McCormick, 25, expressed immediate remorse after the accident, telling eye-witnesses: “I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. I just fell asleep, I'm sorry.”

Norris said: “No amount of prison time is going to make it easy for him. Luke has to live with what has happened for the rest of his life.

“It is still very raw for everyone, especially the family, and I don't want to do anything that causes them upset but Luke is a friend.”

McCormick had been drinking at the wedding of David and Claire Norris and had gone to bed, but got up early to drive to see his now wife Naomi when he hit the Peak's Toyota Previa, sending it down and embankment and into trees.

Arron and Ben died while their father Phil, along with three friends, were all seriously injured.

Is Norris right to stick by his friend? Write to your letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk