Jailed: Violent criminal gets six years for 'brutal' carjacking and mowing down of former Telford minister

Harley Davidson Hayes today admitted a robbery conducted with what prosecutors said was "brutal recklessness" outside the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints in Clopton Crescent, Birmingham, earlier this year.

Birmingham Crown Court heard how 36-year-old Hayes left father-of-four David Charmbury, formerly a minister in Telford, lying in the road on the morning of August 16 with 12 fractures to his ribs and legs as well as a punctured lung

Judge Richard Bond was told that as the thief reversed away in the stolen car the bishop was "dragged" under the wheels and run over, in an impact which punctured the off-side front tyre.

Jailing "violent and dishonest" Hayes for six years and 10 months, the judge said: "As a result of your selfishness, your determination to steal his car, you've caused absolute mental suffering not just to your victim but his beloved family.

"I have no doubts whatsoever that your offending falls into the most serious category for street robberies."

He told Hayes, who had 121 convictions, there was no doubt in his mind "you can be properly described in my judgment as a career criminal".

Opening the prosecution case, Patrick Sullivan said Mr Charmbury had parked to open the locked vehicle gate on Sunday August 16, when he "heard footsteps behind him".

Those footsteps were from Hayes who jumped behind the wheel of Mr Charmbury's Mazda CX5, which had been left idling with the keys in the ignition while he opened up shortly before 9am.

Mr Sullivan said the recollection of the bishop, who is a surveyor by trade, then "becomes brittle because of what happened" but added he remembered Hayes telling him he was going to take the car.

Quoting from the accident investigator's report, the barrister added: "The defendant reversed his vehicle and in so doing Mr Charmbury had nowhere to go, and was dragged by the open door and fell.

"His body was dragged.

"And so it was his body ended up partly under the car as the defendant took a right-hand steer and the front off-side wheel of the vehicle went over Mr Charmbury causing the traumatic injuries."

Hayes, who the court heard had 17 pages of previous convictions, then drove off leaving the bishop with life-threatening injuries lying in the road.

The prosecuting barrister said: "It's brutal recklessness because he was fully aware.., and then he drove off."

Hayes, of Bluebell Drive in Chelmsley Wood Birmingham, then dumped the car 1.4 miles away, where he ransacked the vehicle stealing a tablet, mobile phone, holdall and cans of root beer.

Police were able to link him to the crime from a cut which had bled inside the Mazda, the judge heard.

Mr Charmbury suffered 10 broken ribs, an "open-book" fracture of the pelvis and a shattered knee as a result of the incident, according to Mr Sullivan.

The gravely injured 45-year-old bishop was tended to by a passer-by, who called an ambulance.

He was placed in an induced coma for three weeks but, even after his release from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, required further surgery to remove dead tissue from the inside of his right thigh, leaving a 21cm wound.

In a victim impact statement Mr Charmbury said his wife had been left "sleepless" with the "exhausting" job of looking after himself and the couple's four children, aged between seven and 12, while he recovered.

The bishop added he would not be back at work for at least another six weeks, and needed ongoing medical care.

Mr Sullivan said: "Dealing with his family, his wife Rachel was in fear of his life while he was in an induced coma and that must have been of great distress.

"What they had hoped for before this happened was of a family holiday to Greece - the first in three years - but that wasn't to be."

Paul Fleming, in Hayes's mitigation, said his client expressed remorse and was "aware of the extent of the injuries suffered by the victim".

He said father-of-two Hayes "reacted instinctively" to the temptation of a car left with its engine running and then "quite simply, he panicked" when he reversed over his victim while driving off.

But the judge said: "He's a very experienced criminal, your client, and was well aware by doing what he did he could have caused injury to his victim, and that's what he did."

Hayes, who will serve half his sentence out on licence, will also serve a three-year driving ban on his release.