A DRINK driver has been jailed after killing a grandmother, seconds after boasting to a friend that he was a better driver after a drink.

Artur Tomowiak, 39, crashed his Mercedes S600 into a VW Golf, while driving at 72mph on October 14 last year.

The force of the impact on Mort Lane, Tyldesley spun the Golf 180 degrees and hurled it 22.5 metres back up the road. The road has a 30mph limit.

The crash killed 71-year-old Kathleen Brogan who was a passenger in the front seat of her daughter Jill's car.

Jill was also taken to hospital and needed several operations after suffering fractures to both legs and pelvis.

Sound on dashcam footage recorded in Tomowiak’s car revealed passenger Zygmunt Putek repeatedly begging the driver to slow down.

Mark Kellett, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court that Mr Putek had warned Tomowiak about his driving, telling him: “Calm down for f*** sake. Slow down, I have children.

"You can go mad when you are on your own.”

Tomowiak was also heard bragging ''I'm a better driver when I've had a drink.''

The court heard that Tomowiak, who came to the UK from Poland in 2007 and runs a furniture restoration and sales business with his wife, had drunk a third of a litre of whisky that morning and, two and a half hours after the crash, a blood test revealed double the legal level of alcohol was still in his system.

Tomowiak, who has no previous convictions, suffered a fractured sternum and bruised lungs while Mr Putek sustained internal chest injuries.

When interviewed by police Tomowiak, of Oldham Road, Middleton, stated: “Yes, I am responsible and I feel really sorry.”

He pleaded guilty to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.

Katy Laverty, defending, said Tomowiak wished to apologise to the Brogan family.

She said: "He is a man who made terrible decisions on the day in question and he will have to live with those consequences for the rest of his life. He is genuinely remorseful for the pain ans suffering he has caused.

Sentencing Tomowiak to 88 months imprisonment, Judge Walsh said: "This collision was the result of a toxic combination of grossly excessive speed and the heavy consumption of alcohol.

''Immediately prior to the collision occurring, your passenger expressed concern at the speed at which you were driving.

"I accept that you express genuine remorse but the fact of the matter is that you took a conscious decision to drive your vehicle at a grossly excessive speed at a time when your ability to drive was seriously impaired following the heavy consumption of alcohol.

''The consequences were catastrophic and the impact of your actions upon those who must pick up the pieces is movingly and eloquently described in the victim impact statements I have received

''By driving at such an excessive speed and whilst under the very heavy influence of alcohol you displayed a gross and flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and disregard for the danger being caused to other road users.

"The sentence I am required to impose cannot and could not reflect the value of the life which has been lost and the damage done on that fateful afternoon.

''The family and friends of the deceased now have to come to terms and deal with the ensuing grief and sense of loss that must follow.''

Tomowiak was also disqualified from driving for nine years and eight months.