A student was killed by a driver branded 'the drunkest person I have ever seen' by an experienced police officer. Malcolm Waite, 68, mowed down 20-year-old Lancaster University student Fenella Hawes after he mounted the pavement.
He also hit a teenage girl but the 16-year-old escaped with cuts and bruises. The pair had been walking home from work on a Sunday afternoon in July when Waite crashed into them in Stalham, Norfolk.
Waite didn't stop after ploughing into the pair, carrying on for a mile before smashing into a road sign, trees and shrubbery. He smelt strongly of alcohol but refused to provide a breath test.
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About four hours after colliding with the two women, he was still more than three times the legal drink drive limit. Now Waite has been jailed for eight years for causing death by careless driving.
PC Callum Walchester, who arrested Waite at the scene of the collision, said: "I’ve been a PC for 10 years and worked in roads policing for almost six years, and he was the drunkest person I have ever seen behind the wheel of a car." Fenella was a natural sciences student and had earned a bursary for a trip to Honduras as part of her studies.
In a heartbreaking victim personal statement, her mother Margaret said: "Every day I sob, when I wake up, throughout the day at random times with seemingly no reason and when I go to bed at night. I picture her walking along, so happy carrying sunflowers for me and then being hit by the car.
"I sob because I will never see Fenella again, I will never see her radiant smile or hear her laugh, I will never talk with her about her day or about her plans for the future, I will never help cheer her up when she is sad or gossip with her, I will never go on long walks with her again…I will never be able to sit with her in front of our fire…it will never be the same again.
"I sob for the future that she doesn't have because a drunken man chose to get into a car, knowing that this was a weapon that could kill someone, and indeed it did it killed my 20-year-old daughter. She was a young adult beginning her life and her bright future was taken out in a few seconds because of someone who did not think or did not care.
"I sob because she was so happy: she was so lovely inside and out she was so alive and now she isn't here, and never will be again. I never had a chance to say goodbye."
In a tribute to her at the time, her family said: "Fenella will be greatly missed by all those who knew and loved her. She made our world a better place with her vivacious spirit and lit up our lives with her laughter and quirky sense of humour.
"She could not walk past a cat without stopping for a photo shoot and was looking forward to going to the cat cafe with her boyfriend. Her love of the environment and nature was shown in her enjoyment of local walks in woods, the beach and lately in The Lakes.
"She was a successful student and had completed two years studying Natural Sciences at university and had a trip to Honduras, funded through a bursary that she had been awarded, planned for the future. No words can express how her family and friends feel and we are touched by the messages we have received."
Following the sentencing at Norwich Crown Court, Detective Inspector David McCormack, of Norfolk police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This is a tragedy, and it was wholly avoidable. I implore anyone who thinks it is okay to have a drink and then drive, please remember the heart-breaking and devastating consequences of drink-driving so evident in this case. Waite’s decision to drink and drive has changed lives forever.
"The teenage girl who, together with Fenella, was just walking home from work that day is traumatised by what has happened. Waite will have to live the rest of his life in the knowledge he has taken the life of a remarkable young woman who had so much to offer and lots she wanted to achieve. He has caused so much pain to so many people."
Waite, from Hoveton, Norfolk, was banned from driving for seven years and must take a compulsory driving before he can drive again.
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