A motorist who downed shots of gin and vodka and smoked a joint before getting behind the wheel has been jailed for killing a mother on her way home for Christmas.
Sarah Hand, 50, lost control while trying to overtake a lorry an collided head-on with another vehicle being driven by 56-year-old Gail Brown.
A court heard she got out of her wrecked Ford Fiesta “on her hands and knees” and told a passing motorist ‘I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve been drinking’.
She then “threw her head in her hands and said ‘what have I done'” after seeing the carnage on the A1307 near Horseheath, Cambs.
Mrs Brown, of Haverhill, Suffolk, sustained fatal injuries and died at the scene.
Another driver, a 43-year-old man, suffered minor injuries, in the collision on December 23, 2017.
On Friday, Cambridge Crown Court heard how Hand had taken cocaine and cannabis the night before, and consumed gin and vodka prior to the accident.
But while trying to overtake a lorry on a dual carriageway, she mounted a grass verge before veering back across both lanes.
She struck the grass central reservation and collided with the victim’s Nissan Micra.
The engine of her car detached and hit a grey Volkswagen Tiguan which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Hand admitted she had been drinking to a police officer at the scene and provided a positive breath test of 90 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – almost three times the legal limit of 35.
She also tested positive for cannabis following a roadside drugs test.
Hand was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and was escorted by police to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to be treated for a broken pelvis.
In interview, Hand admitted being dependent on cannabis and alcohol and said she had also consumed cocaine that morning and the night before.
She pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving while unfit through drugs and causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed alcohol limit.
Hand was jailed for eight years and banned from driving for 14 years.
Speaking after sentencing, PC James Thorne, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Forensic Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This is an extremely sad case where a woman lost her life because of the selfish actions of another.
“While Hand fully accepted what she had done and is very remorseful for her actions, there is absolutely no excuse to ever get behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
