A 79-year-old drink-driver was yesterday jailed for four years for causing the death of a mother and daughter in a crash.
Shortly before the fatal head-on collision, another motorist was so concerned about John Clarke's erratic driving, she pulled over to let him pass.
She could see in her rear view mirror that his head was bobbing forwards and at one point he was slumped over the wheel, Leicester Crown Court was told.
Clarke ended up mounting a kerb and losing control of his Ford Galaxy on the A6003, just outside Oakham.
His car spun into the opposite carriageway, into the path of Jacqueline Hibbens's oncoming Ford Focus.
Mrs Hibbens, 65, of Oakham – who was taking her 85-year-old mother, Jeanne Slyfield, out for lunch – died at the scene, shortly after 11am on March 18, 2010.
Her mother died later in hospital.
Clarke, who was 76 at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving, while over the prescribed alcohol limit.
He was banned from driving for 10 years.
Clarke, of Warn Crescent, Oakham, suffered multiple fractures and a collapsed lung and was in hospital for two months .
A blood sample from hospital was back-calculated to reveal at the time of the collision he would have had between 101 and 214 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, said the Crown was prepared to accept the lowest reading of 101 milligrams.
An empty half-litre bottle of vodka was found in the passenger foot well of his car, but Clarke has no recollection of when he drank it or of events leading up to the collision.
He had also taken a sedative, prescribed for osteoarthritis in his spine, which could also have adversely affected his driving.
Leicester Crown Court was told Clarke had a previous conviction for drink-driving, in 2004, when he had crashed into a wall in Oakham.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Brown told the women's relatives no sentence could measure the lives of their loved ones.
He said: "All lives are priceless."
He told Clarke: "This collision was caused by driver error and you were responsible for that."
Some of the delay in bringing the case to court was caused by investigation into whether a heart attack might have caused the defendant to lose control. This had been ruled out.
Clarke, a grandfather, had earlier that day been at North Luffenham Golf Club, but stopped playing because of back pain. He returned to his car and was seen to fall over.
Mr Aspden said there was "no evidence" he was under the influence of drink at that point.
Kevin Barry, mitigating, said: "He extends his sincere apologies to this family.
"His thoughts and sympathy are with them.
"He accepts he's to blame."
Detective Constable Paul Bingham said: "This was a tragic incident which left the family to cope with not just the loss of one member of their family but two.
"Their deaths have left a huge space in their families' lives and they are still attempting to deal with the effect that this tragedy has had on them some three years on."
