Speeding drink-driver jailed for fatal M4 crash

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A drink-driver who caused a fatal crash at speeds of more than 100mph on the M4 in Berkshire has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Christopher Lockwood, 31, struck Patricia Hesser-Young's Land Rover near Membury Services in June 2009.

He hit it with such force it fell down an embankment, hitting a tree. The Berkshire woman died four months later.

Lockwood, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, had earlier admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Reconstruction evidence showed Mrs Hesser-Young, 63, had been driving at 54mph while Lockwood had been driving at about 104mph at the point of collision.

Reading Crown Court was told he had been drinking heavily at a 30th birthday party in Reading in the hours before the crash.
Life support withdrawn

He was found to be three-and-a-half times over the legal drink-drive limit, which the judge described as a "grossly excessive level of alcohol".


Mrs Hesser-Young, a mother-of-three from Sonning, suffered "catastrophic injuries", including a fractured skull, in the crash on the westbound carriageway, a mile from Membury Services, early in the morning of 28 June.

She died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 4 October 2009 after life support was withdrawn.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be a severe head injury.

She had been on her way to work at the Royal Mail in Swindon.

Sgt Paul Coleman, of Thames Valley Police, said: "Christopher Lockwood made a conscious decision to drive home after a night out drinking.

"He was clearly in no fit state to drive, yet drove at dangerously high speeds along a motorway.

"As a result of his thoughtless actions, a family has lost a much loved mother.

"I would like to thank all of them for their patience and assistance throughout our investigation.

"They have acted with the utmost dignity during what has been a very difficult time for them."

Lockwood, who worked for Vodafone in Newbury at the time and lived at Tuke Walk, Swindon, has since moved to Etruria Road in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent.