Driver jailed after son-in-law paralysed in post-party crash
Lincolnshire PoliceA driver who had been drinking and taking drugs hours before she crashed her car, leaving her son-in-law paralysed, has been jailed.
Jacqueline Dewhurst, 45, admitted flipping her car into a field in Lincolnshire in August 2020, leaving her passenger with a serious spinal injury.
The car, which had a steering defect, had been bought on eBay for £550 a week earlier, a jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard.
Jailing Dewhurst for 18 months, Judge John Pini QC said her son-in-law's life had been "totally destroyed".
Dewhurst had been driving Nathan Williams, her daughter's partner, from Sheffield to Skegness at about 05:00 on 30 August last year when the crash happened.
Paramedics subsequently found the car upside down in a field near Wragby, with passenger Mr Williams, 31, having been thrown from the car.
He was left paralysed from the waist down and is now reliant on a wheelchair.
Dewhurst denied being the driver and refused to give a roadside breath or drugs test, with her being visibly "intoxicated and uncoordinated", the court heard.
An issue with the car's power steering was known by Dewhurst, who had noticed a further issue shortly before the crash.
When the steering problem occurred a third time, Dewhurst careered off the A158 at Langton by Wragby.
A blood test in hospital hours later found she would have been double the legal limit for both alcohol and cannabis at the time of the crash.
Dewhurst, of Nodder Road, Sheffield, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Passing sentence, Judge Pini said while it was clear Dewhurst's family did not want her jailed, the offence was aggravated by her lack of sleep, the consumption of drink and drugs and her knowledge of the steering fault.
As well as a jail sentence, Dewhurst was also banned from driving for five years and must take an extended retest.