A motorist has been given a prison warning after admitting that his dangerous driving left the passenger of another vehicle badly hurt.
Daniel Hunt, 41, faced one charge when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court. Hunt admitted that the dangerous driving of a Peugeot 208 vehicle caused serious injury to Christine Chamberlin on the afternoon of June 5 last year.
It followed a crash between the Peugeot and a red MG in which Chamberlin was a passenger on the B6260 between Appleby and Orton.
During an earlier magistrates’ court hearing, a prosecutor told how Hunt was found to be over the drink-drive limit after his northbound vehicle crossed into the opposite carriageway and into the path of the oncoming MG.
This was being driven by Mrs Chamberlin’s husband, who had tried to take evasive action. However, Hunt’s Peugeot collided with the offside of the MG.
And as a result, 69-year-old Mrs Chamberlin suffered serious and life-threatening injuries. She was airlifted to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, transferred to the city’s Freeman Hospital, spending time in a high dependency unit and requiring numerous surgeries.
Her injuries, said the prosecutor, included damage to major organs, broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and small bleed on the brain.
After Hunt, of Mill Corner, Murton, near Appleby, entered his guilty plea, Judge David Swinnerton adjourned the case for the preparation of a probation service pre-sentence report.
Hunt was granted unconditional bail until his sentencing hearing, on July 8, and told by Judge Swinnerton that he could receive a prison sentence for the offence.
