A 68-year-old man has been jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving after he mounted the pavement and killed a 20-year-old woman.
Malcolm Waite was driving his Lexus RS SUV at high speeds along the A149 in Norwich at around 4:30pm on 31 July when his car struck 20-year-old pedestrian Fenella Hawnes.
Paramedics tried to save Hawnes' life but she died of her injuries at the scene, while a second girl was injured in the collision as she suffered cuts and bruises.
Advert
The driver did not stop at the scene of the collision, driving for another mile before crashing his car into a road sign.
Police later found him sitting in the driver's seat of his car at the second collision site.
He was described by the arresting officer as 'the drunkest person I have ever seen behind the wheel of a car'.
Waite was arrested after refusing to provide a breathalyser sample and later taken for tests at James Paget Hospital, Norfolk, where it was found that he had 158 micrograms of alcohol in his blood. The legal limit is 35.
Advert
Waite was sentenced to eight years in prison and has been banned from driving for seven years. He will have to retake his driving test if he ever wants to drive again.
Fenella's mother Margaret said she would 'never be the same again' after the death of her daughter, and said she would 'sob for the future that she doesn't have'.
She said: "Every day I sob, when I wake up, throughout the day at random times with seemingly no reason and when I go to bed at night.
Advert
"I picture her walking along, so happy carrying sunflowers for me and then being hit by the car. I sob because I will never see Fenella again.
"I will never see her radiant smile or hear her laugh, I will never talk with her about her day or about her plans for the future, I will never help cheer her up when she is sad or gossip with her, I will never go on long walks with her again.
"She was a young adult beginning her life and her bright future was taken out in a few seconds because of someone who did not think or did not care.
"I sob because she was so happy: she was so lovely inside and out she was so alive and now she isn't here, and never will be again. I never had a chance to say goodbye."
Detective Inspector David McCormack of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit spoke of the incident after Waite's sentencing.
Advert
He said: "This is a tragedy, and it was wholly avoidable.
"I implore anyone who thinks it is OK to have a drink and then drive, please remember the heart-breaking and devastating consequences of drink-driving so evident in this case.
"Waite's decision to drink and drive has changed lives forever. The teenage girl who, together with Fenella, was just walking home from work that day is traumatised by what has happened.
"Waite will have to live the rest of his life in the knowledge he has taken the life of a remarkable young woman who had so much to offer and lots she wanted to achieve. He has caused so much pain to so many people."
Featured Image Credit: SWNS