The family of a father and his two children who were killed by a drink driver while out on a Father’s Day walk have spoken of their 'tsunami of grief'.

Ex soldier David Logan claimed he ‘blacked out at the wheel’ as a result of a coughing fit moments before the crash, a court heard.

Logan, 48, has been jailed for 10 years and 10 months for causing the deaths of Joshua Flynn, 37, and his children Coby-Jay, 15, and Skylar, 12, on June 21 2020.

The family were walking their Yorkshire Terrier, Troy, in Abbey Road, Dalton, when Logan lost control of his Peugeot 206 convertible and mounted the pavement, colliding with the young family and hitting a tree.

All three family members were thrown in the air and died instantly, alongside their beloved dog, Preston Crown Court heard.

Witnesses who arrived minutes after the collision described Logan, of Broughton Road, Dalton, staggering, slurring his words and showing no concern for the people who lay fatally injured on the ground.

He told officers his driving was 'safe as houses' and insisted 'there’s no way I am over the limit.'

But tests revealed Logan, who has six previous convictions for drink driving or refusing to co-operate with a breath test, had a blood alcohol level of 141mg/100ml of blood.

The legal limit is 80mg/100ml.

Logan suffered a broken arm in the collision and was treated at Furness Hospital before being taken to Barrow Police Station for questioning.

He told officers he had suffered a coughing fit at the wheel which caused him to black out - claiming he had suffered similar episodes on at least six previous occasions.

However he had not informed the DVLA about the 'blackouts', which he said came on suddenly and without warning.

Analysis of his mobile phone showed the night before the collision he had no more than two and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep, which Logan claimed was normal for him, as he suffers PTSD from his time serving in the British Army in the 1980s and 90s.

On June 21, Mr Flynn’s wife Emma went to work, leaving her husband and children to spend the day together.

She said: “I did not know that when I left them it would be the last time I would see them alive. The last time my life would be normal.”

In a moving victim impact statement, Emma said her family had been 'brutally ripped from her' by the actions of David Logan on June 21.

She said: “I hold an uncontrollable amount of grief. I don’t even know where to start coping without them. I have dreams about them and for a second I forget they aren’t here anymore, and then the harsh reality of losing them comes crashing down on me. I am living in constant pain and hurt.

“I think he is probably living a better life than me right now and he is in prison. One day he is going to get out. His family will still be there and his life will go on.

“I will never get out. I feel like I am stuck on the day that they left.”

Joshua’s mum Angela Flynn, the children’s grandmother, spoke of a 'tsunami of grief which knocks you over and engulfs every corner of your being.”

Logan pleaded guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving, a count of criminal damage in connection with the death of the dog Troy, and a charge of driving over the legal limit of alcohol.

In a letter written from his prison cell, he said: “Emma lost everything on that day in June and I haven’t got the power to change that.

“Not a day goes by without me thinking about that family, a family I didn’t even know.

“I can’t say sorry enough. I can’t apologise enough for what happened. I am sorry for hurting so many people.”

Sentencing, Mr Justice Hilliard, described the collision as “a completely avoidable tragedy”, saying Logan showed “a flagrant disregard for the law and the danger he posed.”

“He drove as if the road traffic rules simply did not apply to him”.

Mr Justice Hilliard said: “He should not have been driving at all. His decision to do so cost Joshua, Coby-Jay and Skylar their lives and robbed Emma Flynn of her peace and happiness.

“No sentence I can pass can put right what this defendant has done. I am afraid that is not possible.”

He sentenced Logan to 10 years and 10 months in prison concurrently for each count of causing death by dangerous driving with five months to run concurrently for driving with excess alcohol.

He banned him from driving for 16 years and five months and ordered him to pay a £170 surcharge.