Mohammed Irshad, 36, was driving a Mercedes well over the 30mph speed limit when he hit a Nissan Micra on St Helens Road on the evening of June 22 last year.
Bolton Crown Court heard how his actions that day caused the death of 63-year-old Karen Kimblin and serious injuries to her husband Kenneth, who had been travelling in the Nissan.
Prosecutor Sophie Kenny said: “It was a warm and sunny evening, and the area of St Helens Road was busy with other road users and pedestrians.”
Ms Kenny told the court how Irshad had been driving progressively worse on his way towards where he would eventually cause the crash on St Helens Road.
Tributes left at the scene on St Helens Road (Image: Newsquest) He had begun by driving erratically, worsening as he went on, going well above the speed limit, pulling into the opposite lane and forcing two other cars to make evasive manoeuvres.
The court heard that at around 100 metres before the crash, he was going at between 49 and 66mph, believed to be at the upper end of that scale, in what is a 30mph zone.
Mr and Mrs Kimblin had been travelling at a normal speed before Irshad, who had been driving with a passenger, hit them head on causing “catastrophic damage.”
Ms Kenny told the court that Irshad had narrowly missed four other pedestrians.
She said nitrous oxide balloons were found on the seat of the Mercedes Irshad had been driving but that he denied having used them.
Mrs Kimblin was pronounced dead at just before 9.10pm that same day despite the best efforts of the emergency services, while Mr Kimblin had to be taken for treatment in hospital.
Irshad also needed to be treated, while his passenger in the Mercedes suffered a broken wrist.
Ms Kenny told the court that on being arrested later that evening: “His response was ‘how is it me that’s caused the death?’”
She said that two days before the crash Irshad had been arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine before being released under investigation.
The day he caused the fatal crash Irshad, who has eight previous convictions for 10 offences, had both cocaine and cannabis in his system.
Brought before the courts he eventually pleaded guilty to both causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Irshad appeared to keep his eyes to the floor as the court heard a series of moving testimonies laying bare the devastation he had wrought on his victim’s family.
Emphasising “you did this” as Irshad sat in the dock, Mr Kimblin set out the pain the defendant had caused when his driving killed his wife Karen.
He said: “You have taken her off me, you have taken away my loving wife, you did this.”
Mr Kimblin paid tribute to the incredible support he had received from his family as he struggled with the lasting impact of Irshad’s actions.
Daughter Stephanie Kimblin was the next to lay bare the consequences of Irshad’s actions as he listened on from the dock.
She said: “Words could never be enough to describe the agony that you have caused to our family.”
She said that her father “is a hero and always will be” while her mother’s presence “surrounds us every day.”
Addressing Irshad, she said: “My mum’s life will not be defined by you or her death.”
A final statement was read by Ms Kenny on behalf of Mrs Kimblin’s daughter Natalie Dickinson.
She spoke of how the family were left with “bittersweet memories” and asked “how could a simple five-minute journey down the road cost her life?”
Reading the statement, Ms Kenny said: “When they say some people are angels walking on earth, my mum really was.”
Mark Friend, defending, said that none of his points were intended to “excuse” Irshad’s actions or “undermine” the trauma he had inflicted.
But he said the 36-year-old had earned credit for his guilty plea and that as he listened on earlier in the hearing, the “the impact of the statements was evident.”
Mr Friend said that though a pre-sentence report about him was “not a document that reads unequivocally impressively” Irshad did not “seek to resile or go behind his guilty plea.”
He said that Irshad had “another side to his character” and wanted to become “a better man than the one who entered custody.”
But Judge Jon Close reminded Irshad, of no fixed abode, that his driving that day was “best described as erratic but it grew progressively worse.”
Addressing the defendant, he said: “When arrested your response was callous, ‘how is it me who’s caused the death?’”
Judge Close referred to Mrs Kimblin’s bereaved family members “each spoke in moving terms as to the sheer scale of their loss.”
Turning to the impact on Mr Kimblin, Judge Close said: “In his words, you left him lonely.”
He also reminded Irshad that he had been found to have had cocaine and cannabis in his system only two days after his arrest and said he was troubled by his apparent lack of remorse.
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But this may have changed when he was brought for sentencing.
Judge Close said: “I was able to watch you visibly diminish when the scale of what you had done was laid bare before you.”
He sentenced Irshad to 10 years and six months and banned him from driving for five years with a seven-year uplift to take account of his time in custody.
With a brief nod to the judge, Irshad went down to the cells in silence.
Ms Kenny closed by giving thanks to Judge Close on behalf of Mr Kimblin and his family, while the judge responded by expressing “profound sympathy” for their loss.
