Gwent Police have been blasted by a High Court judge for their "terrible, terrible police work."

A High Court Judge, Judge Shoman Khan, condemned Gwent Police for numerous failures during a court sentencing at Newport Crown Court on Friday, September 27.

During the sentencing of Hannah West, a 36-year-old woman who crashed her car into a mother and son leaving them in the road to die, Judge Khan said Gwent Police had failed both her and her victims.

It took police four months to charge Hannah West for her crimes, which took place on December 31, 2022 and even then they could not charge her for the true offence.

"I do not know what went wrong. It was terrible, terrible police work," said Judge Khan when addressing Hannah West.

"Police failed to charge you, they did nothing, and there is no explanation as to why."

"It took them until April 3 to charge you and it makes me cross, that the police have failed the victims, and even you."

The judge told the court that Hannah was drink driving, as she was seen getting rid of alcohol from the boot of her car before fleeing the scene.

Though he could not sentence her for drink driving offences because the police did not collate sufficient enough evidence.

They also took too long to charge her after her arrest, for reasons that remain unexplained.

The force of the collision West caused was "so severe it caused victim, a mother from Newport, Sally Short, to eject from the vehicle, landing on the tarmac in the middle of the road," the court heard.

Mrs Short said in a victim personal statement that she "trusted the police to do their job, but fears they definitely have not."

Her and her son were left unconscious by the impact and were hospitalised with serious, life-changing injuries.

Gwent Police agreed that in this case, the level of their investigation was not up to standard.

Chief Superintendent Leanne Brustad said: “We accept the feedback from this judge about the level of this investigation as it was, on this occasion, not to the standard that we expect of our officers.

“It is important that we use examples such as this case to remind all our current officers of the expectations we have of them and the vital role they have in securing justice for victims.”

Despite West's previous conviction of drunk driving, Judge Khan sentenced her to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months.