Prison sentence is ‘inadequate’

4:01pm Monday 25th February 2008

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A DRIVER who left a teaching assistant with multiple injuries in a high-speed smash on the wrong side of a dual carriageway has been jailed.

But the judge who sentenced him, Mr Justice Pitchers, criticised the 18-month jail sentence he was forced to give Sean Hart as "woefully inadequate".

Hart, aged 21, from Riverdale Road, Erith, pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to dangerous driving, failing to stop and driving without insurance.

The court heard Hart had been spotted by police in a blue Ford Mondeo speeding in Erith Road, Barnehurst, on the morning of December 28 last year.

Officers in a marked police car switched on their blue lights and sirens and set off after the car.

As the car sped through the streets, overtaking cars, Hart, who was at the wheel, and his passenger pulled up their hoods.

Hart forced an ambulance on an emergency call to pull over; sped the wrong way round a mini-roundabout and careered across a junction, causing a van to brake as Hart turned right and accelerated to 80mph.

Prosecutor Jonathan Foy said the officers decided Hart's driving was so dangerous, they stopped their pursuit.

Seconds later, on the Bronze Age Way dual carriageway in Erith, there was a loud collision and clouds of smoke.

Hart had hit the car of Julia Mitchell, 41, from Slade Green.

She had to be pulled semi-conscious from the wreckage, and suffered multiple injuries including a punctured lung and a number of broken bones.

Mrs Mitchell needed plastic surgery to her face and had metal plates inserted in her elbow.

She worked with children with learning difficulties at the Howbury Centre, Slade Green Road, Slade Green, but has been unable to return to her job because of blurred vision and back pain.

Hart's passenger escaped and ran off, but Hart was detained at the scene and apologised to police for the accident.

He has a number of previous convictions for theft, violence and robbery, Mr Justice Pitchers told him he was ruining his own life and had now ruined some else's.

He said he was constrained by sentencing guidelines.

Hart is likely to be released from jail in nine months.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years.