A DRIVER boasted to his pal that he drove better after drinking just seconds before he killed a grandmother, ploughing into her car at more than 70mph.

Sound on dashcam footage recorded in Artur Tomowiak’s Mercedes S600 revealed passenger Zygmunt Putek repeatedly begging the 39-year-old driver to slow down during the journey on October 14 last year.

But Tomowiak ignored the requests. lost control of the car on Mort Lane, Tyldesley, and struck a VW Golf, being driven by 38-year-old Jill Brogan on the opposite carriageway.

Police estimate the Mercedes was doing 72mph and the force of the impact spun the Golf 180 degrees and hurled it 22.5 metres back up the road. The road has a 30mph limit.

Front seat passenger, 71-year-old Kathleen Brogan died instantly and the driver, her daughter Jill Brogan, needed several operations after suffering fractures to both legs and pelvis.

Mark Kellett, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court that Mr Putek had warned Tomowiak about his driving, telling him: “Calm down for f*** sake. Slow down, I have children.

"You can go mad when you are on your own.”

Mr Kellett added: “During the conversation the defendant told his passenger that he drove better after he had been drinking.”

The court heard that Tomowiak, who came to the UK from Poland in 2007 and runs a furniture restoration and sales business with his wife, had drunk a third of a litre of whisky that morning and, two and a half hours after the crash, a blood test revealed double the legal level of alcohol was still in his system.

Tomowiak, who has no previous convictions, suffered a fractured sternum and bruised lungs while Mr Putek sustained internal chest injuries.

When interviewed by police Tomowiak, of Oldham Road, Middleton, stated: “Yes, I am responsible and I feel really sorry.” He pleaded guilty to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.

In a victim statement Ms Brogan told The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, about the impact the death of her mother has had on her family.

Mr Kellett said: “Kathleen Brogan and her husband were looking forward to spending together in retirement, to enjoy holidays and experiences that they had deferred to allow Kathleen to care for others. As a grandparent she had devoted time to Jill Brogan’s two children, providing childcare and support.”

Katy Laverty, defending, said Tomowiak wished to apologise to the Brogan family.

She said: "He is a man who made terrible decisions on the day in question and he will have to live with those consequences for the rest of his life. He is genuinely remorseful for the pain ans suffering he has caused.

"Mr Tomowiak is fully aware that an immediate custodial sentence of some length is inevitable."

Judge Walsh adjourned sentencing until today and remanded Tomowiak in custody.