Shocking Moment: Drunk Driving Mom Crashes into Parked Car and Hits House While Heading to Pick Up Kids

THIS is the shocking moment a drink driving mum ploughs into a parked car before smashing into a house while on her way to pick up her kids.

Tamara Bowen, 44, has avoided jail after she drove into Jill Robinson’s bungalow in Strood, , last October.

Footage shows Bowen’s silver Astra ramming into a parked Polo, pushing it a short distance, driving into the front of the home.

Jill described how she was in her kitchen when she heard a “bang” and “crash”, but thought a picture might have fallen off the wall – only to discover part of the bumper of a car was now inside her bedroom.

The mum-of-two pleaded guilty to being twice the drink-drive limit when she smashed into the house, knocking down the walls and leaving it too “structurally insecure” to live in.

Jill, who is 84 and has terminal , was forced to live in a Premier Inn until May 1 when it was finally safe to return.

At Maidstone Magistrates’ , bodycam footage was played and showed officers checking on Bowen and asking her what had happened.

She responds from between the seats and the airbags, saying “I don’t know”, before telling the officer she doesn’t need an ambulance.

Leaving the vehicle with paramedics, Bowen can be seen wearing a jumper and joggers and later told them she had been drinking at home before the 8pm incident.

Prosecutor Lucie Fish said: “She [Bowen] was going to collect her children. If it had been 10 minutes earlier, Jill would have been in her room. She could have been seriously hurt.”

In her victim impact statement, Jill said: “This incident has completely turned my life upside down. I have terminal leukaemia… living in this hotel has made everything so much worse.”

Helgaardt Strydom, defending, told the court that Bowen was of previous good character and had entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.

He said: “She tried to move or fix the carpet in the footwell while she was driving and that was the main reason the accident took place.”

Mr Strydom explained Bowen had come out of an abusive relationship and drinking had become a “coping mechanism”.

He told the court she had since recognised the drinking problem and engaged with The Forward Trust, a that helps people with drug and alcohol dependence.

As the defence solicitor explained that Bowen risked losing her own house because her husband had not been paying the mortgage, she began to cry.

Bowen was given a 12-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, and an alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement for 120 days, which uses an electronic ankle tag that tests sweat.

She has also been disqualified from driving for 28 months and must carry out 15 rehabilitation activity requirement sessions.

Bowen was ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge and a contribution to prosecution costs of £85, which she will repay at a rate of £20 a month.

Reacting to the sentencing, Jill said it felt like Bowen was “getting off lightly”, but after the proceedings she described feeling “content”, adding: “She deserves every bit of it.”

Now back home, the mum-of-three is happy justice has been served, but she’s still dealing with the effects of the crash.

“I’m still not sleeping at night,” she added. “I don’t think she’s sorry; she doesn’t show any remorse or regrets at all.

“How can a person do that when they’re going to pick up their children? You don’t do that sort of thing.”

Jill says she broke down twice while living out of a hotel room, but she expressed her gratitude for the team who kept her spirits up.

“If it wasn’t for the staff, I don’t think I’d have survived it. Those staff and guests were what got me through it.”