A DRUNKEN driver who mowed down and killed a nurse in a car with no brakes has been jailed for nine years.

Former soldier Craig Mossop careered along the pavement at more than 50mph before ploughing into mum-of-two Susan Jackson as she was on her way to meet her husband at the David Lloyd gym. in Bolton, on August 23.

Jailing him, the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh told him: "You took the conscious decision to drive an unroadworthy vehicle dangerously at a time when your ability to drive it was impaired by the consumption of alcohol.

"The consequences were catastrophic.

"This was a prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of very bad driving of an unroadworthy vehicle aggravated by the consumption of alcohol.

"You had little or no regard for the welfare of others and the decision to drive showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road."

The 18-year-old Landrover Craig Mossop was driving, without a licence or insurance, had faulty brakes and Mrs Jackson with such force that that she was flung 30 metres across Royal Court Drive, Bolton, hitting a wall on the opposite side.

She died almost instantly from severe multiple injuries, including a completely severed spine.

Army veteran Mossop, who appeared for sentencing via a video link from prison, did not slow or stop and continued up Chorley Street, careering through a red light, narrowly missing a BMW before swerving towards Chorley New Road and smashing into John Devaney, who was standing begging on the central reservation traffic lights at the junction with Chorley Old Road.

READ MORE: Driver's trail of tragedy

Judge Walsh paid tribute to James McKay, who came out of his house and cared for 50-year-old Mrs Jackson until paramedics arrived and confirmed she had died.

"He is to be commended for this act of humanity which is in stark contrast to the conduct displayed by you," Judge Walsh told Mossop.

Mossop, aged 51, of Hartington Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving, drink driving and having no licence or insurance. The court heard that Mossop's drinking was, in part due to the time he had served in the Army in Northern Ireland.

In addition to the jail sentence, Mossop was banned from applying for a driving licence for 14 and a half years after which he will have to take an extended driving test.

"There is nothing that this court can do which can put right the wrong that occurred on that afternoon, " said Judge Walsh.

"A life has been lost and another damaged. There are other victims too. 

"The anguish and deep sense of loss felt by the family of Susan Jackson has been movingly articulated. Family and friends are left to pick up the pieces. 

"They must come to terms with and continue to live with the pain and enduring sense of loss which is a direct consequence of your actions. 

"It should also be recognised that the sentence which I must impose upon you cannot and is not intended to reflect the value of the life that was lost and damaged by your conduct. 

"No sentence that a court can impose could do so."

On Friday the judge heard moving statements from Mrs Jackson's husband, Graham Lockett and other members of her family, including her daughters, Sophie and Emma, who she had brought up alone after the suicide of her first husband.
Mr Lockett told the court how he felt guilty not being with his wife when she died.

"I now have to live without my soulmate, our girls have to live without their mum having already lost their dad," he told Mossop.

“Our lives will never be the same – not on Christmas, anniversaries or birthdays, not the same at engagements, marriages or births.

“I am overwhelmingly sad and my heart feels broken."
In her statement Emma Jackson told how the hospital where her mum and dad had met is now the location of the David Lloyd gym and had previously held happy memories.

“My mum had so much more to see and do,” she said.

“The day my mum was killed my heart broke. The overwhelming, wrenching feeling in my heart has been unbearable. I have never felt such an immense feeling of loss.”

And in her statement Sophie told Mossop: "On Sunday August 23 a monster came into our lives. This monster left my mum on a road to die. This monster didn’t stop and didn’t get any help for my mum. This monster is you.

"You have taken everything away from me."