A MAN who ‘lost control’ of his vehicle has ‘ruined’ the life of a woman after crashing on a Mold road.

Michael Lewis, 29, of Plas Madoc in Ruabon, appeared at Mold Crown Court on August 6 where he pleaded guilty for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Shortly after 6.15am on September 23, 2019, Lewis was driving towards Mold on the A5118 in a Ford Transit lorry.

James Coutts, prosecuting, said that at that time the road was dark with no street lights and the surface was damp due to light rain.

Marie Mitchell was driving her Mercedes in the opposite direction after a night shift in work when the Ford crashed into her ‘head on’.

Mr Coutts aid shortly before on the A494, Lewis was witnessed ‘overtaking’ a HGV and two other vehicles and was ‘only just able to get in lane’ before the left hand turn.

The court heard how Mrs Mitchell knows the road well and described the bend in the road as being ‘sharp’.

Mr Coutts added that as she was driving around the bend, she saw headlights coming towards her on her side of the road but was ‘unable to take action’ and the vehicles collided ‘head on’.

Both drivers became trapped in their vehicles and the Mercedes was ‘forced into a hedge’.

The pair were both taken to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital but Mrs Mitchell had to stay until September 27 due to having fractured ribs, her teeth knocked out and a broken sternum amongst other injuries.

The court heard how Lewis was travelling over 50mph and did not 'know the road well' and was not 'able to steer to his side of the road’.

He admitted he knew of a problem with his clutch and ‘accepted his driving was dangerous’.

In a victim personal statement read out to the court, Mrs Mitchell said she was ‘lucky to be alive’ but suffers with PTSD and has ‘found the whole process extremely difficult to relive’.

She added that she has been ‘massively affected’ by the incident as she had always been an independent woman but is ‘no longer the same person’.

Mr Coutts said the incident had ruined her life and now relies on others to do things for her but she does not like asking for help.

The court heard how her marriage had been affected, her job role had to be changed, she had ‘turned to alcohol to deal with issues’ and had ‘felt like a burden’.

Duncan Bould, defence counsel, said Lewis was a hardworking man with a young family who had ‘never so much had a speeding ticket’.

He added that Lewis did what a ‘pretty large proportion of the population’ would have done and rushed to work after he had woken late.

He added that it was ‘not an uncommon human failing’ to not anticipate things going wrong and ‘clearly what went wrong had an affect on the life of Mrs Mitchell’.

The court heard how Lewis was truly sorry and he ‘lost control’, causing a ‘tragedy’ for both lives, caused by waking up late for work.

Mr Bould said that ‘hindsight is a marvellous thing’ and day in day out people get into cars and ‘drive too quickly’ and do not check tyre pressure.

Despite being a ‘sensible young man’, Lewis did ‘drive dangerously’.

Mr Recorder Paul K Lewis QC said the impact from the collision was considerable and Mrs Mitchell still has ongoing problems as a result.

He added: “She’s struggling to come to terms with what happened to her. She could so easily have been killed.

“Your dangerous driving was not a momentary lapse on your part.”

Mr Lewis QC said Lewis should not have been driving due to knowledge of the clutch fault but would take into consideration the affect of a prison sentence on his family and employment.

Lewis was given a 12-months custodial sentence which was suspended for two-years.

The judge added: “You understand, I hope, that you have come very close to going to prison.”