A mother-of-two is still in a wheelchair more than a month after being severely injured in a crash when her partner lost control of a stolen car during a police chase.
Now Claire Howarth wants nothing more to do with callous Paul Gordon, who fled after losing control of the stolen Mercedes and crashing into a tree, leaving her trapped in the car.
Gordon (23) of Adderley Street, Hillfields, Coventry, was jailed for two years at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
He was also given a consecutive one-year sentence for assault, for which he was on bail at the time of the crash, and banned from driving for four-and-half years.
Prosecutor Scott Coughtrie said on October 14 a man went to the Johal supermarket in Cheveral Avenue, Coventry, to buy alcohol.
He drank half a bottle of vodka, and was talking to some friends nearby when Gordon came up to him, asking him what he was looking at.
Gordon walked away but returned with a brick, so the man took refuge in the shop as Gordon goaded him to come out.
When he did, Gordon began hitting him with the brick.
The man blocked some of the blows, but was struck at least twice to the head, leaving him with what was described as a 2cm hole to his forehead, requiring stitches.
He continued to suffer headaches and had to return for a CT scan, which fortunately revealed no underlying injury.
He said he had almost lost his job because of the time he had to have off work.
Gordon was arrested, but was granted bail, and on November 12 police officers on patrol on the A444 at around 8pm spotted a Mercedes car stolen in a burglary.
As they began to follow it Gordon sped away in the direction of Nuneaton, going through a red light and reaching more than 90mph on the 50mph dual carriageway.
As the chase continued along Holbrook Lane and then Burnaby Road, a residential area with cars parked on both sides of the road, he was doing 70mph.
As he continued along The Scotchill his speed increased to 90 again before he lost control and the Mercedes smashed into a tree on the roundabout at the junction with Keresley Road.
The passenger side of the car took the full force of the impact, causing Miss Howarth to suffer a compound fracture to her lower left leg, leaving the bone protruding through the skin.
She also suffered two broken heels, three fractured ribs, bruising to her lungs and a broken nose.
With Miss Howarth trapped and unconscious, Gordon, who had previous convictions for offences including assault and robbery, got out and fled the scene.
Anthony Cartin, defending, said: “He is realistic about the outcome of today. He said in the cells it’s not the sentence which bothers him, but knowing what he’s done to his partner.”
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC observed: “As she lay with an open fracture, he ran off.”
Gordon interrupted from the dock to claim the reason he had run away was because his two kids were at a friend’s, and he went to get them to take them to her mother’s.
Mr Cartin said Gordon had been living with Miss Howarth, who at 32 was significantly older than him and had a 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, for six or seven years, and they had a daughter together.
Jailing Gordon, who vociferously refused to stay in the dock and was taken back to the cells, Judge Lockhart said: “How no-one else was injured is only a matter of chance.
“He drove at 90 in a residential area. If a child had stepped onto the roadway, they would have died.”
At Miss Howarth’s request, the judge made a restraining order banning Gordon from contacting her or her parents or going to the road in which she lives.
