A HEROIN addict who was high when he badly injured three women after nodding off at the wheel has been told his jail term was not too long.

Owen Paul Shaw, 39, fell asleep whilst driving in Cliddesden Lane, near Basingstoke and collided with another vehicle at 7.40pm on 21 October last year.

As well as being conked out, he had forgotten to put his vehicle's lights on and was driving down the middle of the road.

Three women in the first car, Shaw hit all suffered serious injuries, ranging from a ruptured spleen to broken ribs and a protruding disc.

Shaw, of The Crofts, Hatch Warren, Basingstoke, was jailed for 40 months in July after he admitted three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He also pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs at Winchester Crown Court.

But on Thursday, at London' s Criminal Appeal Court, Lord Justice Holroyde heard him plead for a sentence cut, claiming he was treated too harshly.

The court heard that, when Shaw's car door was opened after the crash, a "large number of contaminated hypodermic syringes fell out."

A urine test revealed that he had taken heroin, cocaine and Xanax.

His car also turned out to be uninsured and he told police he had missed the renewal notice when it came in the post.

Shaw also told officers he believed that the drugs were out of his system when he got into the car.

He later said that he was wracked with guilt about what happened, had trouble sleeping as a result and "hadn't meant to harm anyone."

But Lord Justice Holroyde said: "He had been driving whilst clearly unfit through drugs, without insurance and without lights, on the wrong side of the road.

"He wrecked three lives. The fact that there were multiple victims had to be reflected.

"Forty months was severe but, after careful consideration, we are unable to say there is anything wrong in principle or manifestly excessive.

"This appeal fails and is dismissed," he concluded.

At the initial sentencing, in a victim impact statement read to the court, one of the victims said: “I suffer persistent, intrusive and recurring nightmares of the collision and my sleep has been affected severely due to this.

“I have excessive feelings of anger towards Shaw which consumes me. I am receiving counselling to deal with these feelings along with numerous other emotions I continue to experience. I have been assessed and I am suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Another of the victim's impact statements, added: “I have no desire to go out, be it socialising, shopping or carrying out daily tasks.

“I do not even drive to visit my family, something I did before the accident. I have a terrible time with flashbacks which send me into a panic.”