Last picture of Stalham student killed by drunk driver while carrying sunflowers for mum

A heartbroken mum has shared the final photo of her 20-year-old daughter who was killed by a drunk driver when his car mounted the pavement.

Fenella Hawes had been walking home from work with a 16-year-old friend in Stalham, when they were struck by a car driven by Malcolm Waite on 31 July this year.

The 20-year-old student, described by her mum as “lovely inside and out”, died at the scene.

Waite, 68, from Hoveton in Norfolk, was driving a Lexus RX SUV and was found to be more than four times the legal alcohol limit.

After colliding with Fenella and her friend, Waite carried on driving for another mile before crashing a second time, hitting a road sign, trees and shrubbery on the verge of the road.

PC Callum Walchester, who arrested Waite, said: “I’ve been a PC for 10 years and worked in roads policing for almost six years, and he was the drunkest person I have ever seen behind the wheel of a car.”

Bodycam footage captured Waite's drunken state.

Police said he smelt strongly of alcohol but refused to provide a breath test. He was arrested and taken to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston to be assessed.

Approximately four hours after the fatal crash, Waite was recorded as having 120 micrograms of alcohol in his breath.

Officers calculated this would have been approximately 158 micrograms if taken at the roadside after the crash - more than four times the legal limit.

The police investigation found that Waite’s vehicle was not faulty, and the weather and road conditions were clear and fine.

During police interviews, he answered no comment to every question.

In a tribute, Fenella's mother remembered her daughter's "radiant smile" and said "it will never be the same again".

"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," she said.

"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…I will never be able to sit with her in front of our fire…it will never be the same again.

“I sob for the future that she doesn't have because a drunken man chose to get into a car, knowing that this was a weapon that could kill someone, and indeed it did it killed my 20-year-old daughter.

"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.”

Waite had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to causing death by dangerous driving.

He was jailed for eight years on Friday at Norwich Crown Court and was also disqualified from driving for another seven years.

He must take a compulsory driving test before he can drive again.

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