A woman whose life was wrecked by a maniac driver says she wants to face him to ask him why.

Anne Payne suffered multiple broken bones and is now on crutches after a road smash caused by Liam Allon.

The 22-year-old drug dealer was jailed for four years this month.

Mrs Payne, 76, of Lydd High Street, said: “I would like to meet him. I want to look him in the eyes to ask him why he did it.

“He has ruined my life. I wonder if he feels any guilt over this. I can’t hate him, I feel more hurt about what has happened. I hope he has now learned his lesson. I hope he understands what he did to me.

”He is 22 and he has ruined his own life. He seems to have no respect for anybody.”

Mrs Payne, driving alone in a Ford Focus, was in a three-car smashed caused by Allon at about 4.05pm last October 4 on the A259 Dymchurch Road near the Warren Inn, New Romney.

Her car was hit head-on by Allon’s and she was trapped, rescued by firefighters and paramedics and airlifted to hospital.

She faced a six-hour operation next day and spent three weeks a King’s College Hospital in London before being transferred to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

She said: “I remember it vividly. I remember the windscreen shattering and the glass coming down like a waterfall. Then the airbags in my car inflated.

“I looked out of the window and a group of people gathered round me. I said: ‘Help, help, get me out.’ My feet were trapped because my car had concertinaed.

“I remember being flown in the helicopter to hospital. That boy (Allon) was also injured and flown.”

Mrs Payne said she received “marvellous” hospital care but was sick and in agony and discomfort.

But her family brought her an artist’s set, including pencils and crayons, and she kept her spirits up by spending time sketching and doing watercolours as she has a passion for art as a hobby.

She previously taught art weekly at The Old School in New Romney.

Many of the images she created in hospital were of the doctors and nurses who treated her. Her Church of England faith also kept her going mentally and emotionally.

She said: “I think to myself, since I was left for dead why am I here today? I think being in a very solid car helped save me but I am also a very strong woman. But I am glad I still have my hands working so I can carry on with my art.”

Mrs Payne is both mentally determined but also physically fit. She is a former ballroom dancer who was dancing ballet right until the accident.

At the time of the crash she and her husband Peter, 83, were due to go to a dancing weekend in Eastbourne.

“I would like to meet him. I want to look him in the eyes to ask him why he did it" - Anne Payne

Now she can only walk short distances on crutches and is in pain going up the stairs.

It is not know if she will be able to walk unaided again. She is getting continuing care to recover with appointments with a Harley Street specialist.

The accident has also caused a financial blow for the couple. Mrs Payne, a qualified chef, has run hotels with her husband and had a small bed and breakfast business with him until the accident.

Now they can’t take guests and live on their pensions and her disability allowance.

She has been unable to drive since the crash and has gradually had to rebuild courage to be a car passenger, driven by her husband, after the trauma of the accident.

She said: “We went for a drive to Rye Harbour the other day and I was envious when I saw people walking.”