Drink-driver was going 'so fast we didn't have time to be scared'

Couple's lives changed forever by smash that happened 'one second' after they saw motorist

- Sentinel Reporter

HARDWORKING farmers Stuart and Valerie Heath had enjoyed a day out in Wales on their motorbike and were just yards from their North Staffordshire farm when their lives were changed forever.

Stuart, aged 68, was riding the motorcycle responsibly on the correct side of the road with Valerie, aged 66, his pillion passenger.

But as they went round a bend on the A53 at about 6.35pm on June 4, just a few miles from their Longsdon farm, the parents-of-four and grandparents-of-five were confronted by a silver Vauxhall Vectra driven by Augustine Kiprono.

The 28-year-old Kenyan national had been drinking and was nearly one-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit when he dangerously overtook a lorry.

But he did not allow himself enough time to complete it before the bend, and was on the wrong side of the road when he collided with the motorbike.

The Heaths both suffered serious injuries; Stuart, a broken left leg, left arm and a displaced fracture to his leg, Valerie, a fracture to her thigh, and she has been left with one leg shorter than the other.