A drunk driver who seriously injured a woman when he collided with a taxi she was about to get into has been jailed for two years.

Suzy Dabner was sent flying through the air and suffered five fractures to her face. She was also with her dog at the time and the pet ended up under the wheel of Lee Hogan’s Audi TT Coupe.

Miss Dabner later needed a metal plate inserted into her face, while the five-year-old Boxer, called Honey, suffered a dislocated ribcage and needed extensive veterinary treatment.

Hogan, who was twice the legal drink-drive limit, denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving in March last year but was convicted by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court.

Jailing the 43-year-old today, Judge Charles Macdonald QC said the accident was caused by excessive speed and poor look-out due to alcohol.

The judge also said he found it difficult to accept any “real remorse” in light of Hogan’s not guilty plea and his behaviour in the collision aftermath.

“Miss Dabner was thrown up and down and hit the road, passing out. The dog’s screaming could be heard in a nearby house through closed windows,” said the judge.

“The defendant nevertheless had to be asked to reverse off the dog and there was evidence, unchallenged, that he did so with little grace. He then walked off.”

Judge Macdonald continued: “He paid no heed to the stricken woman, to her screaming dog or to anyone else except himself.”

However, he added that shock may have played a part in Hogan’s “uncharacteristic callousness”, and that he had also taken into account Hogan’s later attempts to find out about Ms Dabner’s plight.

Hogan, of Hargate Close, Tunbridge Wells, was also banned from driving for six years.

Miss Dabner was in court with family and friends for the sentencing hearing. Her facial injuries included fractures to an eye socket and jaw. As well as surgery, the court heard she underwent dental work and 15 months on still suffers from acute pain, numbness and nightmares.

“Miss Dabner was thrown up and down and hit the road, passing out. The dog’s screaming could be heard in a nearby house through closed windows” - Judge Charles Macdonald QC

The court heard she had become engaged just days earlier but celebrations had to be postponed.

So serious was Honey’s injury that it was initially thought she would have to be put down. However, after what was described as “long, distressing and expensive” treatment she can walk for about half a mile, although she is incontinent.

“Her condition is itself a source of anguish to Miss Dabner and a restriction upon her life,” remarked Judge Macdonald.

The trial heard that a taxi went to collect Miss Dabner from a house in Stockland Green Road, Tunbridge Wells, at about 10pm on March 28 last year.

The driver stopped in the narrow road near the junction of Etherington Hill, put his hazard lights on and waited.

Prosecutor David McNeill said as Miss Dabner went to the rear door on the driver’s side, the cabbie saw headlights approaching fast in his rear view mirror.

“He was unable to do anything,” said Mr McNeill. “It was as if he took no action to avoid him at all. He felt impact on the back of the taxi.

“The next thing he saw was Miss Dabner flying past his window and she ended up on the drive. She has no memory now of how this happened.”

The taxi driver himself suffered whiplash from the impact.

Hogan’s alcohol reading was 70 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. He told police he had been to the Hand and Sceptre pub in Southborough, where he drank two points of lager and two pints of shandy.

The court was told he admitted it was stupid to drive after having so much to drink.

Tom Stern, defending, said it was a case of inappropriate speed for the road conditions as opposed to racing or show-boating.

Referring to Hogan’s initial response to the accident, he added: “To think he would not be bothered or not care about the plight of Miss Dabner in those circumstances is perhaps removed from the truth.”