Eight years for drunk who killed aspiring model

Rebecca Caine, 20, from Leeds, died from multiple injuries in the head-on collision between junctions 21 and 22 of the M62 in Littleborough, Greater Manchester.

Zimbabwean national Wilfred Museka, 31, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

Museka, who gained political asylum after arriving in the UK in 2000, had been to a family party in Manchester.

He drank so much alcohol that he could not recall how or why he had later travelled to the border of West Yorkshire where the crash took place, the court heard.

His vehicle careered into the path of a car containing Miss Caine, who was a back-seat passenger.

She had just returned from holiday and had visited Manchester to see a friend perform at a nightclub and was on the journey home in the early hours of September 16.

Museka was arrested and found to be more than twice over the drink-drive limit.

He had never held a full driving licence and had 11 previous convictions for driving matters including driving with excess alcohol.

Judge Adrian Smith said: “This can properly be described as a flagrant disregard of the basic rules of motoring caused by a self-inflicted inability to exercise any judgment by the consumption of large amounts of alcohol.”

Tina Landale, prosecuting, said Miss Caine and three male friends had spent a happy evening together at the Printworks club in Manchester.

Museka had driven from his home in Powell Street, Clayton, at about 10pm on September 15 to attend a house party in nearby Openshaw.

He drank lager and rum mixed with Red Bull before he got back into his Renault Megane vehicle.

His vehicle was seen on CCTV passing no-entry signs on to the exit slip road to the eastbound carriageway of the M62.

A motorist whose vehicle had broken drown shone his torch at him and waved his arms to get his attention but to no avail, the prosecutor said.

One driver swerved to avoid the oncoming Museka while the driver of the Chevrolet Matiz carrying Miss Caine safely overtook a minibus taking 11 women to Halifax and then drove into the path of the defendant – who was travelling at “motorway speed” – with barely a second to swerve.

The near side of the Megane hit the near side of the Matiz.

Miss Caine, who was not wearing a seatbelt as she was sitting next to a drum, was thrown from the rear window of the vehicle and her body was seen to fly in the air.

The other occupants of the car suffered cuts and bruises.

Museka had driven one and half miles the wrong way, the court heard.

Miss Landale said: “At the scene the police asked the defendant if he was the driver. He said he was and he said ‘I was driving and then bang’.

“He smelled of intoxicants, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glazed.”

Museka was taken to a police station and provided an alcohol reading of 178mg per 100ml of blood – the legal limit being 80mg.

She said he told officers: “I have destroyed my whole life as well as somebody else’s. I am sorry. I do not know how I got there.”

Museka, a father of two, also pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, with no licence and no insurance.

He also admitted fraud by representation in lying to his online insurers that he had held a British driving licence for more than five years. In fact he possessed a provisional licence.

In January 2004 he was over the drink-drive limit and was banned from the wheel for 23 months and received a community punishment. In July 2005 he drove while disqualified and with no insurance and was sentenced to another community order.

He committed a similar offence in June 2006 and also resisted a police constable. Another community order followed and he was banned from driving for a year.

But he got behind the wheel less than two weeks later and was caught speeding. He was jailed for four months and received a two-year driving ban.