The video will start in 8 Cancel

News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A mum jailed for killing her fiance and six-year-old girl in a drink-drive smash has told of her remorse.

Carly Tomlinson, 24, sank two pints of lager and lime and three vodka and cokes before driving James Watson and their daughter Ruby home.

She lost control and ploughed into railings and a telegraph pole, killing her partner and child instantly.

Speaking days before Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Tomlinson told the Mirror: “I am deeply saddened by what happened that night and if I could swap places with James and Ruby, I would.

“I am forever crying thinking about the traumatic night. I can’t explain how remorseful I am about that night.”

Tomlinson had been on a five-hour boozing session before the tragedy. The family spent the night at a social club before she “inexplicably” decided to drive home, Nottingham crown court heard.

Ruby was not properly secured in her booster seat and James, 28, was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the 1.25am crash in April 2017. Investigators found the family’s Fiat was doing 43mph in a 30mph zone.

Experts concluded from blood samples taken four hours later she would have been “just below twice the limit”.

(Image: Derby Telegraph)

Prosecutor Alex Wolfson said Tomlinson broke her back, pelvis and ribs in the collision in Belper, Derbyshire.

She spent four months in hospital, two in an induced coma, and cannot recall the crash. But the former police support worker, who also has daughter Violet, three, refused to accept full responsibility for it.

She claimed James was partly to blame and told us: “We should have known better.” Calling for zero tole­rance law she said: “Many people have a drink and drive, I hope this is a wake-up call and people think differently.”

(Image: Facebook)

Raglan Ashton, defending, yesterday said Tomlinson was continuing to raise Violet.

He went on: “Ordinarily it was James who drove. One of the points she is wrestling with internally is what caused her to drive on that occasion.

“She understands the level of ­resentment towards her.”

But James’s mum Janine Hitchcock, 51, said in a victim impact statement: “I’m so angry. She needs to pay for all the heartbreak she has done.

(Image: Facebook)

“My family has been completely torn apart. I feel so strongly that she should be punished. She’s shown no remorse.”

Tomlinson, of Belper, got a four-year driving ban and was sentenced to two years after admitting two counts of causing death by careless driving.

She will serve half of it behind bars before being freed on licence. Judge Gregory Dickinson said: “You must have known you had too much to drink.

(Image: Derby Telegraph/SWNS.com)

“You took a risk. You killed your own child and fiance. There’s no right sent­ence, nobody can put a value on a life.”

Derbyshire Police, for whom Tomlinson volunteered, said she was put on leave after the crash and was “resigned from her position” in March.