A Methodist minister and his wife died when their car was catapulted into a tree after being shunted from behind by a van driven by a man so drunk he could not walk in a straight line, a Court heard.

The Rev David Bannister and his wife Christine, from Horsforth, died at the scene of the horrific accident on the A591 near Kendal in Cumbria on May 10 last year.

At Carlisle Crown Court on Friday, Bernard Slater, 39, of School Knott Drive, Windermere, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to causing their deaths by dangerous driving.

He was also banned from driving for ten years, although he had already told his family he would never drive again.

Prosecuting counsel Tim Evans told the court several witnesses had seen Slater clearly drunk in the hour before the crash.

First a policeman saw him staggering along the pavement in Kendal, and slumped against a shop window.

Then several drivers had to take avoiding action as he drove erratically and at high speed out of the town - with his lights off, although it was pitch dark.

Mr Evans said: "He was in no fit state to drive. To put it bluntly, he was drunk and unable to control either himself or his vehicle. He was an accident waiting to happen."

Mr Evans said the dead couple were so well respected in the area, where Mr Bannister was minister of the Horsforth Grove Methodist church and his wife was a former teacher, that their family received more than 1,000 cards and letters of condolence.

He said Mrs G M Stone, then head teacher of Westbrook Lane Primary School, Horsforth where Mr Bannister regularly took assemblies, had written to parents after the tragedy telling them what had happened.

She described Mr Bannister as 'a gentle person who related to everybody'. She added: "He was much loved, respected and admired . . . a friend to us all."

Mr and Mrs Bannister's son, Jonathan, and daughter, Catherine, who were in court to see Slater sentenced, sent a note to the judge describing how the tragedy had affected their family.

"The loss of such good friends, and our loving and caring parents, has left the community in mourning and our small family traumatised and torn apart," they said. "Our family life has been destroyed and nothing will ever be the same again."

Mr Evans said that Mrs Bannister's mother, Mrs Dorothy Wilkinson, who lived in the Horsforth area, had died in December from the stress of the accident, leaving her 90-year-old husband, Clifford, with no immediate relatives.

In mitigation, defending solicitor Chris Hudson said that Slater had an alcohol problem. He was also a full-time carer to his wife who was confined to a wheelchair with arthritis.

On the day of the accident he had had only breakfast and no lunch or evening meal.

Judge Robert Brown told Slater: "By your reckless driving, in drink, you snuffed out the lives of two very much loved and valuable people. It is a tragedy of enormous proportions."