Sara Bromwell, 38, was more than three times the legal limit and was driving at an estimated 66mph in a 40mph zone.

The four-car pile-up in Coventry left Claire Bewick, 17, having to wait up to two years to find out if she will be able to walk properly again.

Bromwell pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Offender found snoring

Jailing Bromwell at Coventry Crown Court, Recorder Benjamin Nicholls told her: "At the end of the sentence you will be free. No-one knows if the victim of your criminal behaviour will ever walk again."

Coventry Crown Court heard that Bromwell, a mother of two, from Barrow Close in Walsgrave in the city, had consumed a "catalogue" of alcoholic drinks before getting behind the wheel of her high-performance Peugeot in October last year.

I am pleased she got a custodial sentence. I'm not angry about it all, but I just wish it had never happened Claire Bewick

She slammed into a Renault Clio and the impact led to her car ploughing head-on into a Ford Fiesta, in which Claire was a passenger.

Bromwell was later found snoring in the wreckage of her car, having shed her shoes and climbed into the passenger seat.

Police said she was so drunk that she was unable to walk unaided and had to be handcuffed after verbally abusing paramedics and repeatedly claimed: "I wasn't driving."

Peter Haynes, defending Bromwell, said three years before the crash his client's life had "spiralled" after a relationship with her partner ended in "spectacular fashion" when he kidnapped and attempted to murder her.

The ordeal led to Bromwell taking anti-depressants and abusing alcohol as she and her two children tried to cope with what happened, he said.

Outside court, Claire, who had been studying four A-levels and coached at a local athletics club as well as competing at high jump, welcomed the sentence.

The teenager said: "I am pleased she got a custodial sentence. I'm not angry about it all, but I just wish it had never happened."