A DRUG driver has been jailed for 16 months after his van collided with an elderly couple near Knighton.

David Painter had at least 16 times the legal amount of cocaine in his system when his Peugeot Boxer van collided with a grey Hyundai Kona carrying elderly couple Brian and Patricia Kerrigan on the A4113 on the morning of November 7 last year.

At the time of the accident, Dyfed-Powys Police put out an appeal for help in which they said that one of the passengers had been taken to hospital with “serious injuries” - this is revealed to have been Mrs Kerrigan who spent time in intensive care.

Appearing at Caernarfon Crown Court last Tuesday, June 28, Painter was sentenced to 16 months in prison with the 43-year-old set to spend half of his sentence in custody before he is released on licence.

Painter, who pleaded guilty to one charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and one charge of drug driving, has also been disqualified from driving for three years and eight months.