Drink-driver caused head-on crash near Appleby which left grandma fighting for life
A drink-driver who caused a head-on crash which left a grandmother fighting for her life has been jailed for two years.
Daniel Hunt of Mill Corner, Murton near Appleby, was battling an alcohol addiction when he was involved in the collision last year.
The crash happened on the B6260 between Appleby and Orton on 5 June.
Hunt was travelling back to his parents house when he briefly turned to check a noise behind him.
In a split-second Hunt's car had veered onto the wrong side of the road and into an oncoming vehicle.
The red 1959 left-hand drive MG containing a couple heading to a vintage car rally.
Despite the MG driver moving as close to the left side of the road as he could, he was still unable to avoid the Peugeot Hunt was driving.
Carlisle Crown Court heard from the driver that Hunt “didn’t seem to be taking any evasive action".
Prosecutor Daniel Bramhall, said the vintage car driver was left winded but his wife Christine Chamberlin suffered severe injuries.
He said: “He remembers his wife on his right, seeing she was slumped in her seat. She was unconscious, she had a large wound at the top of her right leg.”
The crash caused Mrs Chamberlin, who is from the Penrith area, to sustain internal injuries to her kidney and liver.
She also had broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and a small bleed on the brain. Mrs Chamberlin was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery. Mr Bramhall said she would have died without the treatment.
Previously an active woman who looked after her grandchildren, Mrs Chamberlin who is in her 60s, went on to spend three weeks in intensive care and high dependency units.
In April this year she was still receiving visits from carers, having neuro-physio and getting occupational therapy.
Hunt left the crash with a small cut to his ear. At the scene he failed a breath test which showed he was more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit. He claimed he had not drunk since the night before.
A vodka bottle was found in his car but Hunt said he had hidden it there from his parents on a previous occasion.
Hunt admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Defence barrister Michael Hayton QC said he was “mortified” by the offence, saying: “He expresses, and has shown from the very outset very genuine and sincere remorse and regret for the outcome of his actions.”
The court heard how since the crash Hunt had been abstinent from alcohol, apart from a lapse in March this year.
Mr Hayton said prison "would be a massive retrograde step for him.”
Despite this, 41-year-old Hunt was jailed for two year and banned from driving until May 2025.
Recorder Samantha Presland said:“There needs to be a reminder to all of us who drive; all of us who drive on lovely country roads, that we are still in charge of a vehicle which, with a momentary lapse in concentration, could easily kill somebody.”
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