'IT WAS sheer luck no one was killed.'

Those are the words of a Hampshire police officer who found a driver to be 79 times over the drug-drive limit when he smashed into the back of another car on a Hampshire motorway.

Lee Ainsworth, 34, of Lenten Street, Alton, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and driving whilst unfit to drive through drugs at Basingstoke Magistrates Courts.

The court heard how Ainsworth, who was driving a Ford Focus, collided into the back of a Jaguar on the M3, close to junction 6, shortly before 3.45pm on April 28.

The passenger of the Focus suffered a facial injury and was taken to hospital, while the male driver of the Jaguar and the female passenger suffered minor injuries.

The court heard that toxicology tests revealed the amount of Benzoylecgonine, a product of cocaine, in his system was 79 times over the specified concentration allowed in law for that substance.

Christopher Pike, from the Roads Policing Unit, said: “We were truly shocked when we received the test results.

“By getting behind the wheel that day, knowing how much he had taken, he showed total disregard for the lives of others and it is sheer luck that no one was seriously hurt or killed.

“No level of drink or drug driving is acceptable but this was on another scale to anything I have come across before and is one of the highest readings the force has seen.

“We hope this case sends a strong message that we will continue target those who keep on ignoring these laws.

“The laws are there to protect people’s lives and drink or drug driving is not worth the risk. The consequences can be fatal.”

Ainsworth was sentenced to a 12-month community order, disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £85 in costs and an £85 victim surcharge.