A former police inspector who crashed his car in France, killing four people including his wife, has received a suspended sentence from a French court.
Keith Bridges, 52, came off the road yards from his home in the village of Berbiguieres, in the Dordogne region.
He had spent the night drinking when his overloaded Jeep came off the road and ploughed into trees in June 2006.
Bridges received a two-year suspended sentence for admitting a charge akin to manslaughter, while drink-driving.
Drinking session
He was also ordered to pay a fine of 200 euro (£180) for driving offences and banned from the road for two years by judges at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Bergerac, south west France.
He survived with a broken leg but his wife Julie, 42, her daughter Bethany Lowe, 10, family friend Andrew Dyer, 41, and his 10-year-old daughter Gabriella died.
Bridges showed no emotion as he was handed the sentence for "homicide involontaire".
Gabriella Dyer
Gabriella Dyer, the daughter of a family friend, also died in the crash
Mr Dyer and his family, from Bridgwater, had been staying with the Bridges at their home.
The court heard the group went to see friends and drank about four bottles of wine, 22 small bottles of beer and at least a bottle of spirits in a cocktail mix before Bridges got behind the wheel.
An inquest in October heard Bethany and Gabriella begged the adults not to drive the mile home - even suggesting they could drive themselves.
Police estimated he was driving at around 101kmh (62mph) - well over the advisable limit of 70kmh, or 43mph.
He will live with this for the rest of his life
Tracey Dyer, survivor
Bridges, an officer with 30 years experience, was given a blood alcohol test a few hours later which revealed he was three times the French drink-drive limit - almost twice the UK limit.
The "talented driver" who was part of a special police unit which transported VIPs, could not explain why he had overloaded the car.
His long-standing friend Tracey Dyer, 41, one of the three surviving passengers in the car, lost her husband in the collision but has stood by Bridges throughout.
She said: "He gets up every morning and relives that evening and will always live with [the question of] 'what if I hadn't done that?'.
"He will live with this for the rest of his life. No prison sentence would have made any difference."
Edouard Knoll, the lawyer representing Gary Lowe, Bethany's father, in the civil part of the case, said: "Things are different in France from the way they are in England.
"In France, killing someone on the road is not the same as killing someone any other way - it is an accident and consequently the sentence is not as severe."
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