A WIDOW has told of her horror at watching her husband die after their car was hit by a student who had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Sarah Lewis and her husband Gerry became trapped in their Suzuki 4x4 in March 2014 when Alisdair Grant struck them head on after partying heavily the night before.

Mrs Lewis, of Darvel in Ayrshire, tried in vain to rouse her husband in between screaming for help, only to realise minutes later that he was dead.

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Speaking as Grant, 21, was jailed for three years for causing death by dangerous driving, she told how at times she wished she had died too following the crash, which also killed the couple's much-loved dog Shadow.

"Me and Gerry and Shadow were a little family and having the two of them taken away at the same time, it absolutely wrenched my life apart," she said.

"I was just distraught and for quite a long time I really felt like I wish I'd died too. It was so hard being the one left behind.

"I just kept thinking 'it wasn't meant to end like this'. We thought we were going to grow old together."

Grant, who had served a ban for drink driving months before the crash, was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday (Wed) after admitting killing Mr Lewis, who had worked as a senior conservation officer with North Lanarkshire Council for 20 years.

The court heard that text messages recovered from his phone indicated he had been partying the night before and was tired after his heavy night.

Judge Lord Boyd said the student, of Kilmarnock, had shown a "cavalier attitude" as he banned him again for four years.

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Mr and Mrs Lewis, who were just about to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, were travelling along the A719 on their way to visit Gerry's mother when Grant swerved into their path.

Mrs Lewis, 54, who paid tribute to her "compassionate" and "mischievous" husband who loved hillwalking and wildlife, said there was a "huge bang" when the cars collided, then a feeling of "being shaken up".

She said: "When we stopped, we were both trapped in the car. Gerry was just sitting, staring straight ahead. I was shaking his shoulder saying 'are you okay' and he wouldn't answer me.

"I was shouting 'please somebody come and help my husband', but after about four or five minutes I realised Gerry was dead."

Mrs Lewis was then cut from the car and taken away to hospital as firefighters struggled to remove Mr Lewis.

As she lay in hospital mourning her husband, she was told that Shadow, the rescue dog who had been with the couple for five years, had also died.

She said she struggled to cope for about six months before suffering a mental breakdown and being admitted to hospital with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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"It was just horrible trying to live with it," she said. "any little thing would trigger memories of the crash - a noise or a smell.

"I also just kept thinking that there were so many points at which the outcome could have been different.

"If [Grant] hadn't got his licence back in December, if he hadn't been put back on the insurance, if he hadn't been up partying all night, if he had fallen asleep 10 seconds earlier or 10 seconds later. There are so many points at which it could have been different."

Mr Lewis also left behind his mother Cathie, 88, sisters Catherine Omond, 48, and Liz, 51, and brother Paul, 54.

His sister Catherine, who was the first family member contacted about the accident and had to identify her brother's body, described him as a "big kid" and a "besotted uncle" to her children.

She said: "We spent every Christmas and birthday together as a family and when it came to Sarah, they were inseparable as a couple, it's hard to put into words how good a match they were.

"We can't quite express how catastrophic this has been for all of us."

Both the family and Mrs Lewis said they felt sympathy for Grant at first, but this waned when they discovered he had been partying the night before and had only just served a ban for drink driving.

Mrs Omond said: "At first we thought 'oh he's young, maybe he was fiddling with the CD player or something'. But when we found out his history, it was really hard to take."

However, Mrs Lewis said she was "okay" with the sentencing and relieved to put the court case behind them after two-and-a-half years.

She added: "It doesn't change anything, Gerry's still gone, but there is definitely a feeling of overwhelming relief now."