A drunk driver who was using his mobile phone when he careered across the road near Exminster and smashed head on into the path of an oncoming car – killing a mother-of-two instantly – has been jailed for nine years.

At Exeter Crown Court, 34-year- old Paul Cox, from Dawlish Warren, pleaded guilty to causing the death of 33-year-old Alison Langton by dangerous driving.

Sending him to prison, Judge Graham Cottle told Cox: 'I sentence you on the basis that this accident and the fatal consequences occurred as a result of you drinking a significant amount, being distracted by your mobile phone where a text arrived at the very moment of the crash, and that you were in a state of emotional turmoil. All these facts contributed to the dreadful outcome.

'Nothing I can say or do will begin to compensate for the appalling and needless loss of life of a mother of two young children.'

He went on: 'The consequences for the victim's family have simply been devastating. Theirs is a life sentence but yours will not be because it can't be.

'There was a suggestion that you were contemplating suicide but your basis of plea rejects that notion and I have to accept that. But the drink, the mobile phone and the fact that you have a previous drink drive conviction are aggravating features in this case.'

Prosecutor Sarah Munro, QC, told the court that Cox's relationship with his wife had been a stormy and violent one and he had moved out of the family home in Bovey Tracey and was living in a caravan at Dawlish Warren.

He had moved back to the family home but had been told to leave by his wife, Kelly. That triggered a number of text messages that he sent to her before the fatal crash on the evening of November 6 last year.

In those texts Cox was to say things like: 'you will not see me again', 'I thought we had got things sorted and I was looking forward to the next few months together as a family but now it's all gone,' 'goodbye I hope your life lives up to everything you expect, I was looking forward to being with you but now it's all gone'.

Miss Munro told the court that Cox was to say that he had a dark and angry side when he had been drinking and in further texts he said: 'You really don't get it. I have got five minutes. I have drunk a bottle of Jack Daniels.

In a phone call to his wife he said he was in the car with half a bottle of whisky and she told him not to do anything silly. In a later text he said: 'Seriously two minutes.'

He telephoned a workmate and said he was going to call Kelly to tell her he was leaving her.

Miss Munro said by that time Cox was on the A379 Exeter to Dawlish road and the crash happened under the motorway flyover. The impact was such that it flipped Ms Langton's car over the crash barrier and she died instantly.

The court heard that Cox had to be cut from his car and people at the scene were surprised that he showed no concern for the other driver.

Ms Langton had come to Devon to work as a driver for First Great Western and on the day of her death her long term partner had learned that he was going to get a posting to join her.

Cox, listed under his former address of Butt Park, Hennock, was also banned from driving for nine years.

Miss Munro said Cox was twice the legal limit and said that he had drunk seven or eight pints.

Miss Munro said a text had arrived on Cox's mobile phone at the precise moment that fatal crash occurred.

When being cut from his car Cox said: 'I know what I have done. I drank seven or eight pints, I was pissed.'

The victim's children Jason and Samantha were now aged 15 and 11.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Langton's mother Ellen said since her daughter's death she had been unable to stop crying and was not able to come to terms with her loss.

She looked out of her window and saw the flowers that her daughter had bought her.

'Her death has left a massive hole in our family and I just have 33 years of memories. I cannot come to terms with it. Christmas was rotten.'

The mother said the two children had changed dramatically and the son was hostile towards her.

Miss Munro described the mother as a 'delightful lady trying to fill the gap'.

Mitigating, Nigel Askam said Cox was remorseful for what had happened and he and his family would have to live with what he had done.

However, he accepted that his actions had led to the death of a completely innocent woman.

He also accepted that he had devastated a family and wanted to put on record his sincerest apologies.

He wished he could turn back the clock but he could not.