A DRIVER who injured a woman in a head-on collision has been jailed for 15 months - 11 years after he ploughed into a car and killed a mother-of-four.

Durham Crown Court heard yesterday that in December last year, Joseph Linn, 45, tried to overtake a tanker on the brow of a hill on a country road and crashed into a car coming the other way.

He escaped injury, but the driver of the other car, a woman, suffered fractures to a thigh bone and kneecap, a broken hand and broken collar bone.

She is still recovering.

In 1994, Linn was jailed by Newcastle Crown Court for four years and banned from driving for ten years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving

Mother-of-four Linda Cox, 35, of Chester-le-Street, died when Linn lost control of his Rover and crashed into her Ford Fiesta at Eighton Banks, near Gateshead. Mrs Cox was carrying three of her children and a friend's child.

Linn, who had drunk five pints of beer, said to police he decided to drive home instead of getting a taxi because his dog needed feeding.

The court heard that two years ago, Linn successfully applied to have the last two years of his ban lifted, provided he took an extended driving test.

But at the time of the accident, at about 5pm, on the B1280 between Haswell and South Hetton, County Durham, he had not taken it and did not have a qualified driver accompanying him.

Gavin Doig, prosecuting, said there was a heavy collision between Linn's Ford Mondeo and the Ford Ka.

The injured driver still had to walk with a frame, received daily visits from nurses and was suffering depression.

As a result of the accident, she had missed out on a promotion at work and might not regain full mobility for three to six months, said Mr Doig.

Linn, of Dene Terrace, Shotton Colliery, told police he sneezed as he overtook the tanker and that the next thing he was aware of was seeing car headlights and then feeling the impact of the collision.

He admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving with no insurance.

Alec Burn, mitigating, said Linn was sorry for the woman's suffering. His client had applied for the extended driving test, he said, and was getting lessons from his father and brother, but they could not accompany him that evening.

Linn was given 15 months for the dangerous driving, four months concurrently for driving while disqualified. No separate penalty was imposed for the insurance offence.

He will have to serve half the sentence and the remainder will be suspended