A driver who killed a mum-of-two in front of her husband after losing control of his car while drunk and on drugs has been jailed for five years and seven months.

Kremena Mersinkova, 40, died after Thomas Joseph Lee's car careered off the road at 50mph Godstone Road, Purley, on February 16 last year. 

Lee, of Money Road, Caterham, who was over the drink-drive limit and had taken cocaine and mephedrone, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Croydon Crown Court yesterday. 

Mrs Mersinkova suffered multiple injuries in the collision, which happened on a 30mph stretch of the road, near the junction of Little Roke Road, while she was walking home from work with husband Plamen, 46. 

The couple, who had been working a night shift together as cleaners at University College Hospital, were just minutes away from the home in Whyteleafe that they shared with their 16-year-old daughter Rosemary.

They had moved to Croydon from Bulgaria just months before Mrs Merskinkova's death.

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Kremena Mersinkova and husband Plamen

Mr Mersinkov, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in the crash, spoke in court yesterday of the devastation his wife's death caused his family. 

He said: "None of these injuries caused me as much pain as I felt when I was searching for my wife who had been thrown into the next garden.

"At the time I prayed to God to save my wife but I knew she was dead.

"Kremena was the flame of the family. Nothing is the same as before."

Lee, who was charged by police in November, was also disqualified from driving for five years. 

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Lee's Citreon Saxo careered off the road and hit Mrs Mersinkova

Detective Sergeant Mick Woollard of the Metropolitan Police's Road Death Investigation Unit, said: "This is a tragic loss of a wife and mother of two daughters.

"Lee took drink and drugs before driving a motor vehicle. I'm sure he regrets his actions and is remorseful but there is a clear message here that driving under the influence can kill people."

The couple - whose other daughter, Vicky, 21, lives in Bulgaria - ran a cleaning company together called KPVR.

They had moved to Croydon from Bulgaria just months before Mrs Mersinkova's death.