47-year-old was driving to an alcoholism counselling session when Volvo mounted kerb

Jailed: Alcoholic Jacqueline Loosley was sentenced for eight years for causing death by careless driving while unfit through drink

A judge choked back tears yesterday as he sentenced a drunk driver to eight years for killing a 59-year-old grandmother and leaving her two grandchildren with serious injuries.
Jacquie Loosley, 47, a nurse, was three-and-a-half times over the alcohol limit when she drove on to a pavement and killed Judy De Gelas, 59, a school secretary.
Mrs De Gelas's granddaughter Libby, five, was dragged across the road under the car's bumper and suffered a fractured skull and a chest wound.

Her brother Joshua, nine, was left with a fractured skull.
Loosley was driving to an alcoholism counselling session when the fatal accident took place in June.
Her husband Simon, 46, said outside court that police had told him he could not take his wife's car keys away because 'it would infringe her human rights'.

The judge, Seddon Cripps, appeared on the verge of sobbing as he jailed Loosley and banned her from driving for 15 years.


Victim: Judy De Gelas was knocked down and killed by nursing sister Jacqueline Loosley. Her two grandchildren survived

His voice quavering, he told Aylesbury Crown Court: 'Nothing I can do or say will bring Judy De Gelas back to life or heal the devastating injuries suffered by these little children.'
Judge Cripps added that the case was aggravated by Loosley initially blaming the children for causing the accident.

From the dock, Loosley, of Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, said: 'You cannot punish me more than I punish myself every day.'
She had admitted careless driving under the influence of alcohol.
Nigel Ogborne, prosecuting, said minutes before the crash, a witness saw Loosley's 'posh' convertible Volvo C70 'weaving across the road'. Joshua told police his grandmother saw it heading 'straight towards them'.

In a victim impact statement, Mrs De Gelas's son Alex, 35, of Manchester, said: ''She will be missed by so many. She worked every hour to ensure we had the best life she could give us.'
Dafna Spiro, in mitigation, said Loosley suffered a mental breakdown in January last year.

Between January 5, 2009, and the day of the accident, there were 73 reports on her GP's system about her, 'many of which were from her husband seeking help'.


Wreckage: Jacqui Loosley's Volvo C70 being removed from the scene after she knocked down and killed the 59 year-old grandmother

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314227/Drink-driving-nurse-sentenced-years-killing-grandmother-seriously-injuring-grandchildren.html

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