A MAN due to be sentenced next week in connection with a high-speed car crash which left two of his friends dead, has died suddenly.
Mark Toner (31), from Merrion Park in Dunmurry, died on Monday.
He was due to be sentenced next Friday at Craigavon Crown Court in connection with the crash in Dundrod, Co Antrim which left two men dead.
Toner was one of four men charged in the wake of the accident, which happened on the Leathemstown Road in June 2010.
A Subaru Impreza carrying six men ploughed through a hedge and into a field before it burst into flames.
The vehicle had been stolen from Maralin Avenue in Lis-burn a short time earlier.
Two men, Conor Rules (23), from Dundrod and Patrick McAllister (24), from Dunmurry, were killed in the crash.
Four men were each charged with two counts of aggravated vehicle taking causing death in the wake of the crash.
Toner had pleaded guilty to both charges in June and was due to be sentenced on August 29.
Two men, Kevin Valliday, from Cullingtree Road and Francis Lavery (31), from Stewartstown Road, both Belfast, also pleaded guilty to the charges. Both are awaiting sentencing.
A fourth man, Mark Smith (24), from Broom Park in Twinbrook, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were left on the books.
Requiem Mass for Toner took place yesterday at Church of the Nativity in Poleglass. Burial took place later at Hannahstown Cemetery.