Two Years Jail For Crash-Death Wife

A woman who killed her husband in a car crash after grabbing the handbrake at nearly 60mph during a drunken row was jailed for two years today.

Caroline Meeking, 45, and her husband Alan, 49, were on their way home to Somerset from a day's drinking in Bridport, Dorset, when they crashed into another vehicle.

Meeking, of Park Barn Lane, Ashill, Ilminster, Somerset, denied the single charge of manslaughter but was convicted following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in November.

Passing sentence, Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, said:

"In my judgment, this case is so serious I must pass an immediate custodial sentence.

"A suspended sentence or community order would not reflect the seriousness of the offending."

Meeking showed little emotion as she was led away to begin her sentence.