Woman killed by ‘the drunkest driver’ police officer had seen
A MOTORIST whose vehicle mounted the pavement and killed a young woman was the drunkest driver the arresting police officer had ever seen, a court heard.
Malcolm Waite’s Lexus RX SUV knocked down two pedestrians – a 16-year-old girl and 20-year-old Fenella Hawes, who died at the scene.
Miss Hawes and the girl – who suffered cuts and bruising – had been walking home together after work when Waite hit them along the A149 Wayford Road in Stalham, Norwich, on July 31. Miss Hawes was carrying sunflowers for her mother Margaret.
Waite, 68, was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Norwich Crown Court. The
court was told Waite did not stop his car after hitting the pedestrians, but crashed a mile further down the road.
When officers arrived at the scene of the second crash, they found Waite in the driver’s seat,
smelling of alcohol but refusing to provide a breath test.
Police bodycam footage shows the moment a slurring Waite, sitting next to a bottle of vodka, was arrested. He was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston to be assessed. While in custody, Waite was recorded as having 120 micrograms of alcohol in his breath.
Officers calculated this would have been about 158mcg if taken at the roadside after the crash. The legal limit is 35mcg per 100 millilitres of breath.
PC Callum Walchester, who arrested Waite, said: ‘I’ve been a
PC for ten 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.’ During police interviews, Waite answered ‘no comment’ to every question.
In her victim statement, Mrs Hawes 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 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.’
Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said Waite ‘feels intense remorse for what he has done’, adding: ‘He knows he has caused intense pain to Fenella’s family and friends.’
Detective Inspector David McCormack, of Norfolk’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 heartbreaking and devastating consequences of drink-driving in this case.’
‘She was carrying sunflowers for me’