Jailed: Dangerous driver ploughed into elderly couple's Telford home
A man who sped away from police and careened off-road before smashing into a house and getting away on foot has been jailed.
Jerome Niven, now 26, crashed through railings outside a house on Glendale, in Lawley, on April 14 last year having evaded police by driving at more than 70mph up the narrow Arleston Lane from Wellington.
His Ford Focus smashed into the house itself, knocking a sofa and radiator inwards and distressing the elderly residents who were at home at the time.
Niven, of Queen Street in Wellington, was driving at around 10pm on the night when he was spotted by police.
When they activated their lights and sirens to get him to pull over, he sped up Arleston Lane in the direction of Lawley, exceeding speeds of 70mph despite a speed limit of 60 and then 30.
On reaching the top of the hill and a dense residential area, he lost control and sped over a grassed area, only coming to a stop by ploughing through some railings and into the house on Glendale.
Rather than wait for police to find him, he left the area on foot.
But DNA recovered from the car meant officers were able to track him down.
He was charged with dangerous driving and eventually pleaded guilty.
Shocked
At Shrewsbury Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Mr Matthew Bolt said that Niven's car was written off after the crash, and that the elderly residents of the house were "shocked and visibly upset by the sudden appearance of the vehicle".
He told the court that remedial work to the house has cost in the region of £30,000.
Mr Mark Hemming, for Niven, said that he was worried about being caught by police because might have had that cannabis in his system from some days prior, but that he was not under the influence behind the wheel.
He also said that there had been a defect in the car – that Niven tried his brakes but they didn't work.
He has previous convictions for driving offences including driving while disqualified.
Judge Anthony Lowe said that any instance of dangerous driving is "fraught with danger – it only takes one person being in the wrong place at the wrong time for them to be wiped out".
"I don't like sending young men to prison and I always try my best to find an alternative – but I'm afraid you push it all too far."
He imposed an immediate prison sentence of six months, as well as a three-year driving ban.
