Sheffield drink and drug driver jailed over crash which left son-in-law paralysed after late night party

Jacqueline Dewhurst, of Nodder Road, Woodthorpe, flipped her car into a field in Lincolnshire in August 2020 after she tried to drive from Sheffield to Skegness in the hours after a late night party.

The crash left her son-in-law, who had been a passenger, with a serious spinal injury which has paralysed him for life.

At her sentencing on Wednesday, September 8, Lincoln Crown Court heard how Dewhurst was visibly ‘intoxicated and uncoordinated’ when emergency services arrived, and refused to give a roadside breath or drugs test.

Furthermore, the 45-year-old knew about a steering defect in the car, which she had bought on eBay for £550 a week earlier.

The steering problem occurred a third time during the drive to Skegness, causing her to career off the A158 at Langton by Wragby.

Paramedics found the car on its roof in a field, with passenger Mr Williams, 31, having been thrown from the vehicle. He was left paralysed from the waist down and is now reliant on a wheelchair.

A blood test subsequently showed Dewhurst would have been double the legal limit for both alcohol and cannabis at the time of the crash.

Dewhurst pleaded guilty to causing injury by serious driving.

Jailing Dewhurst for 18 months, Judge John Pini QC said her son-in-law's life had been ‘totally destroyed’.

She was also banned from driving for five years and must take an extended retest when she is released from prison.