Horror smash of wrong-way driver

Severely-injured victims see him jailed

A man who drove the wrong way along the M20 for more than two miles at 80mph, before smashing head-on into a couple on a shopping trip, has been jailed for nearly three years.

The horrific crash was the end of a 50-hour trip Krzysztof Stopko had made back to the UK from his native Poland with no food and little sleep, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

As he headed towards Ashford, Stopko, 35, bizarrely did a “juddering” U-turn as other stunned motorists watched in horror.

Then, i gnoring warnings from other drivers, he travelled between junctions 10 and 11 towards oncoming vehicles before his Seat Leon smashed into the Skoda of a couple heading to Ashford to buy an outfit for a friend’s wedding.

Jailing him, Judge Heather Norton said: “How it is you managed to avoid more carnage than you did cause is hard to understand.

“The accident was inevitable, causing life-changing injuries to the two victims, causing them extreme mental and physical injuries.”

Pictures: Carys Pugh/Kent Police Krzysztof Stopko crashed head-on into this car, sending it on to the M20 central reservation