A "CATASTROPHIC error of judgement" which caused the death of the loving mother of a disabled man led to a young driver being jailed for 14 months.

Jeremy Cheung, 24, was on the wrong side of the road on a wet November night last year when he hit two oncoming cars, on the A167 Croft Road, near Darlington – killing 59-year-old Christine Watson, from Hurworth.

Her family spoke of the devastating impact her loss had had – and that her son Craig, who has severe learning difficulties, is struggling to understand why she was gone.

In a heart-rending victim impact statement read out to Teesside Crown Court by Mrs Watson's daughter, Hayley, she described the moment she had to break the news of her mother's death to her 84-year-old grandmother, who was suffering from terminal cancer, and died earlier this year.

"No mother should have to outlive their child," she said. "The pain this caused my gran, no-one should have to go through."

Miss Watson also described how her brother constantly asked if his mother was "with the angels".

Tearfully, she said: "My mam was his soulmate. He always asks a lot of questions but never as much as now.

"On his birthday, we have a video of him opening his presents, but he just keeps saying, "why is mam with the angels?".

"He just doesn't understand why she is gone, when her last words to him were 'I'll see you tomorrow, son'."

She talked of her pain that her mother would never see her get married and would never be a grandmother herself.

Mrs Watson had a good relationship with ex-husband Terry and helped share in the care of their son, the court heard.

Now he was having to cope more on his own despite the best efforts of family to help.

She also left behind her partner, Dave Graham.

Cheung, of Moray Close, Darlington, admitted causing death by driving without due care and attention, and appeared before Teesside Crown Court for sentence.

David Crook, prosecuting, said three vehicles were involved in the collision – a Mercedes C220, driven by Mr Cheung, a Citroen Berlingo driven by Mr Graham, with Mrs Watson in the passenger seat, and a Nissan Note behind them, driven by Anna Knight.

He said: "Mr Cheung, who was heading towards Darlington from Croft, drove directly into the path of the Berlingo, and his vehicle then went into Anna Knight's Nissan.

"Mr Graham swerved to the right to avoid the oncoming car, and his vehicle spun seven times.

"He shouted to his partner to get out. He looked over and saw that Christine wasn't moving."

Despite the best efforts of emergency services to revive her, Mrs Watson was pronounced dead at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Mr Graham suffered a broken hip and pelvis, as well as a broken left knee, and needed surgery.

Mr Crook said: "There were no drugs or alcohol involved, no distraction and no mobile phone use. There wasn't any evidence of speeding. But he was fully on the wrong side of the road at the point of impact."

Mark Styles, on behalf of Cheung, said: "He doesn't know why he took that inappropriate evasive action.

"From that moment this young man has been thoroughly devastated by events and he has thought about little else.

"It seems he was dazzled and perhaps thought the other vehicle was on the other side of the road."

He said that Cheung had never been in trouble, was highly educated, hard working, and came from a "thoroughly decent" family who were extremely worried about their son.

There were gasps and sobs from Cheung's family in the public gallery as Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC sentenced Cheung.

He said: "Cases like this are first and foremost a tragedy for those affected. They are also tragic for people like you, hard working, good character, with a loving and supportive family who now have to come to terms with the consequences of your offending.

"Christine was 59 when you caused her death. She was a loving, caring mother of two, Hayley and Craig, and particularly she helped in the care of Craig who is disabled.

"It was dark and drizzly, the road surface was wet and it is poorly lit. It was a national speed limit but the conditions called for extra careful driving, because there are a number of bends and you were approaching a double bend.

"For some reason you went over the centre line into the path of the oncoming traffic.

"In any event you made a catastrophic error of judgement."