Driver jailed

A driver who ran over and killed a 59 year old who was out walking with her grandchildren in the Thames Valley has been jailed for eight years.

Jacqueline Loosley, 47, from Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, (right) had been drinking into the early hours of the night before the crash in High Wycombe in June 2010.

She lost control of her car on the High Street in West Wycombe and mounted the pavement, hitting Judy de Gelas, 59, who was walking with her grandchildren Josh - aged nine - and Libby, five, who was to celebrate her sixth birthday the following day.

Mrs de Gelas was a school secretary and well known in her local community.  The children suffered fractured skulls and Libby also became trapped in the wheel arch of the car, but both survived.

Loosley was more than three times over the drink drive limit, and had been seen hitting a traffic island while driving erratically on the A40 in the High Wycombe area a few minutes earlier.

Loosley admitted causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment at Aylesbury Crown Court on Wednesday 22 September 2010.  She has also been disqualified from driving for 15 years and will have to take an extended driving test before she can get her licence back.

Sergeant Dominic Mahon, the Senior Investigating Officer in the case, said: "Jacqueline Loosley made a conscious decision to drive when she was more than three times over the drink drive limit. She was in no fit state to drive and, despite hitting a traffic island earlier in her journey, she just kept going.

"As a result of her selfish actions, the De Gelas family has been robbed of a much loved mother and grandmother and two young children have had to endure an awful trauma which will no doubt stay with them for a very long time. This case illustrates the appalling harm that drink driving can do and I hope that the sentence will act as a warning to the hard core of offenders who continue to take chances with other people’s lives."