Heartbreaking victim statement of 92-year-old woman who was seriously injured when drink-driver ploughed into her bedroom as she slept

A 92-year-old woman who was left seriously injured when drink-driver Michael Vose drove a BMW into her Westhoughton bungalow wrote a heartbreaking victim impact statement, prior to her death just months later.

In the statement, which was written while she was still in hospital three months after the collision, Edna Kearns said that she would "rather die" than live with the "excruciating pain" she had been left in. Mrs Kearns eventually passed away two months after that on April 8, but according to expert evidence, no causational link can be established between the collision and her death.

Vose, 40, of Mount Pleasant Avenue, St Helens, was jailed at Bolton Crown Court today (September 27) after pleading guilty to causing injury by dangerous driving and criminal damage in relation to the crash on November 28 2021, as well as assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage following an earlier incident involving his girlfriend.

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During a sentencing hearing, prosecution barrister Alistair Reid read Mrs Kearns' emotional victim impact statement. In the statement, she said: "It has changed my life forever.

"Even though I’ve always been quite mobile for my age, I’ve never really had to rely on many people throughout my life. I was very independent, especially prior to the past five years. What has happened has taken all of that away from me completely.

"If it wasn’t for my neighbours and the emergency services who helped me get out of the rubble, I would have been dead.

"Even though I’ve suffered with pain in my legs before, it’s nothing compared to what I’m suffering now. Currently, I suffer mostly