A CWMBRAN father who was more than three times the drink drive limit died after his car smashed into another vehicle being driven by a mother with her two young sons, an inquest heard.

Wiremu Bill Pakau, aged 30, from Thornhill, Cwmbran, died from multiple injuries after the head-on collision on Cwmbran Drive on December 6 last year.

Jo Draper, who was driving north in her Fiat Multipla, suffered serious injuries as did her two sons, aged 17 months and five years when Mr Pakau's car hit her.

Mrs Draper, from Pontypool, told the inquest at Newport civic centre yesterday: "I was blinded by these lights in front of me and felt a crushing feeling. I had no time to react.

"It must have been travelling exceptionally fast as I didn't see the car approaching."

She suffered a smashed left foot and severe whiplash. Her baby son broke both legs and ankles and badly split his tongue. Her other son suffered three broken ribs, a lacerated liver, and cerebral bleeding that has left him with a damaged eye.

PC Wayne Poulton, a collision investigator for Gwent Police, said Mr Pakau's J-reg black Golf GTI was travelling around 80mph at the point of impact.

The Fiat was travelling at around 44mph. Wendy James, the deputy coroner for Gwent, said: "I have never seen such an irresponsible attitude towards driving in all my life.

"His callous disregard for his own safety and other drivers' beggars belief. "He had consumed vast quantities of alcohol and should have been nowhere near a car.

"He was overtaking cars at speed and was driving erratically." Toxicology tests revealed Mr Pakau had 289 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, more than three times the legal drink drive limit of 80. Mr Pakau, a lorry driver for Gwent-based Fox Removals, and originally from New Zealand-born, married his wife Nichola Jane Pakau in 2002. They had a baby daughter in January last year.

Before the accident Mr Pakau was drinking with colleagues after work at a pub in Pontypool.

Verdict: Death by misadventure.