A drink-driver who caused life-changing injuries to a woman when he crashed in East Dulwich has been jailed for four years.

Christopher Lloyd Jonas-Samuel, of Rosendale Road in Lambeth, appeared at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday (March 29) after a jury found him guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The 29-year-old was almost two times over the legal driving limit when he drove his Mercedes back from a house party on August 28, 2022, Prosecutor Edmund Blackman said.

At around 8.45am while driving along East Dulwich Grove he lost control at a bend, ending up on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a Nissan driving in the opposite direction.

Eyewitnesses estimated that he was driving at between 40 and 50 miles per hour, Mr Blackman said.

The Nissan spun and hit a parked car, and its driver was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery for spine and bowels injuries.

After Jonas-Samuel was arrested he was both verbally and physically aggressive to police, Mr Blackman said.

When interviewed, Jonas-Samuel admitted he had been driving and said: 'I don't know why but something tickled my nose and I sneezed, instead of breaking I hit the wrong pedal and accelerated'."

A breathalyser test gave his reading as 67 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit to drive is 35 micrograms.

The Nissan driver said that since the crash "pain is the new normal for me", seven months on from the crash she is still walking with crutches and is housebound.

“I feel completely reliant on others," she said. “I find it difficult to cope. I’m always scared something is going to happen and I have nightmares about the crash."

She added: "Life is never going to be the same because of someone else’s actions” 

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John Briant, defence counsel, said Jonas-Samuels' is not a selfish man and is a provider for both his disabled mum and his young child.

Mr Briant said: "He asked me to express through the court, to the victim and her family, his regret about the clearly massive impact that this has had on them."

Jonas-Samuels was sentenced to four years in prison.