'Idiot' driver spared prison sentence after smashing Range Rover during police chase

AN 'IDIOT' driver who smashed a Range Rover Evoque into a roundabout as he drove away from police has walked free from court.

Harry Livingstone, who bought the car with compensation he got after surviving a fatal car accident, kept going despite a passenger yelling 'stop, stop, stop'.

But a judge decided to impose a suspended sentence to allow the 21-year-old to make something of himself as recovers from his serious injuries.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how police in Old Town spotted the vehicle without lights on after midnight on Sunday June 15.

They pulled it over on Newport Street but having initially stopped, the driver put his foot down and sped off along Newport Street on to Marlborough Road.

Officers gave chase as they lost sight of the car as it went at more than 80mph in the 40mph zone, arriving to a 'scene of devastation' at Coate Water roundabout.

The Range Rover had ploughed into a lamp post and traffic lights with car parts strewn everywhere and smoke billowing from under the bonnet.

One of the passengers told Livingstone 'you nearly killed me,' while the driver told police 'I was going to stop, I don't know why I didn't, I'm a ****ing idiot'.

The police then found the provisional licence holder had lied to his insurance company to get cover, saying he had passed his test.

Livingstone , of Ashbury Avenue, Nythe, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, making a false statement to obtain insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

Cannabis and cocaine were also found in the car and at an earlier hearing magistrates fined him £35 after he admitted possessing the cannabis.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client was involved in the terrible accident in May 2013 when Shaya Leigh, 18, and Kerrylee O’Leary-Staniford, 17, were both killed.

He had been a rear seat passenger and suffered a broken back in several place, his neck, his arm, his legs and his jaw, leaving in hospital for three months.

For months after he needed a mobility scooter to get about and has had seven operations and will need more to remove metal plates from his back.

Although he said his client best described his driving in his comment at the scene he said he appeared to have been 'frozen' at the wheel as he sped away.

Mr Ross said that may be explained by the fact that he has not had any help for the psychological damage caused by the death crash.

"It is clear that accident still haunts him, it will haunt him for the rest of his life," he told the judge.

He pointed out he was not under the influence of drink or drugs and said his client had passed the theory part and was due to take his driving test on the Wednesday after the offence took place.

A week or so earlier he had bought the 'dream car' and now realised had he stopped for the police he would just be facing the insurance matters.

Passing sentence Judge Peter Blair QC said: "Your driving on the night on June 15 was extremely dangerous. You appreciate that and you admitted it when the police asked you about it.

"It was after midnight and you lost your head, essentially, in response to the police coming up to advise you about not having your lights illuminated.

"It seems extraordinary to anyone who looks at these papers as to how you could have done that bearing in mind your experience in 2013 when you were a rear seat passenger in a vehicle where two others died, no doubt as a result of a piece of bad driving."

But he added: "I think it would be a retrograde step to make the prison sentence immediate.

"Frankly you would do about four months inside and then you would be back at square one without more input from professional people who can talk to you your thinking."

He imposed an eight month sentence suspended for 18 months with a three month curfew, supervision, a thinking skills programme, £80 surcharge and a one-year ban with extended test.