A DRINK-DRIVER whose girlfriend died instantly when he lost control of his car has been jailed for four years.

Paul Errington was told by Judge Peter Bowers that he had been in a wholly inappropriate condition to drive before the accident on the A689 at Station Cottages, Wynyard, near Stockton, in the early hours of June 28, last year.

His partner of two months, Denise Emers, died in the accident.

Ms Emers, 37, a mother-ofthree, died from a head injury after she was thrown from Errington’s Peugeot 406 car, which span across the central reservation and down an embankment, crashing through a fence and somersaulting into the air.

Last night, Ms Emers’ 17-yeardaughter, Karen, who recently had a baby son, Leon, spoke of her and the family’s relief at the sentence, which she said was better than they thought it would be.

However, she said nothing would bring Ms Emers back.

She said: “We will be happy for a while knowing that he [Errington] is inside, but it is not going to bring her back.”

Cafe owner Errington, 39, of Salvin Terrace, Fishburn, County Durham, was nearly twice over the legal alcohol limit when he opted to drive Ms Emers home to Norton, Stockton, after an evening drinking at his mother’s.

Prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court said he had not slept for 19 hours, having been at work very early in the morning, while the roads were wet with heavy rain.

Errington, who had denied causing death by careless driving, said Ms Emers had an outburst and grabbed the wheel seconds before the crash.

But Rupert Doswell, prosecuting, said the accident was either caused by a loss of concentration or him falling asleep.

Tom Moran, for Errington, said his client was not a man who would habitually drink and drive, and said: “He is remorseful.”

Errington was jailed for four years and banned from driving for ten years.