A DRUNK driver who collided head on with an Ipswich headteacher has today been jailed for four months.

A DRUNK driver who collided head on with an Ipswich headteacher has today been jailed for four months.

Filip Wiewiorski, 23, was driving at speed on the wrong side of the road on a bend when he crashed into Elaine Purves' Mazda, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mrs Purves had been driving to work at Ipswich High School when she suffered multiple life-changing injuries.

Ian Pells, prosecuting, said after drinking “heavily” the previous night the Polish national of Bramford Road found he was late for work at Staff Bank, Holbrook and “raced” along the country road between Freston and Holbrook without any consideration for other road users.

Mrs Purves, who has a young family, said she had been travelling from her Holbrook home to the independent school at Woolverstone at a leisurely pace on the last day of term before Christmas when Wiewiorski's Mondeo careered around the corner on her side of the road, resulting in the collision.

A witness said the Mondeo had been travelling extremely close to the back of his car at 8am on December 15 last year and had overtaken him moments before it had taken the bend at speed and crashed.

The Mondeo left the road and became embedded in a garden fence.

Mrs Purves' car was so severely damaged that a fire crew had to cut the car in half to release her.

She was rushed to Ipswich Hospital where her spleen had to be removed.

A witness impact statement said her young children had to be cared for by others while she recovered. She has to take medication for the rest of her life and now has to be cautious of any activity which could lead to infection.

She said: “It is irritating and a compromise to my previous easy-going lifestyle”.

Wiewiorski was breathalised some time after the accident and 39 micrograms of alcohol were found in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

A forensic scientist said Wiewiorski's reading would have been around 50 micrograms at the time of the accident.

Wiewiorski told police he had drunk a litre of vodka the previous night and had not realised he was still over the limit.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

Charles Riddleston, mitigating, said his client, of previous good character, had shown “a great deal of remorse”.

Recorder Karen Walden-Smith said: “It's a country lane with no footpaths. It is a winding and bending lane and this accident took place on a bend where it appears you were driving far too fast for the road conditions.”

She jailed Wiewiorski for four months, disqualified him from driving for two years and endorsed his licence with nine points.

He was told he would not be able to drive again until he had passed an extended driving test.