A County Durham mum falsely reported to police that her car had been stolen when in fact she'd smashed it into a cancer patient's car and fled.
Emma Mary Thompson crashed into a parked Volkswagen Passat in Sacriston in the early hours of November 3, 2020, but the mum-of-two decided to flee the scene and ditched her vehicle near a sewerage plant. The next day she made a false report to the police saying her home had been burgled and her car stolen.
But the 37-year-old was caught after the dumped car was found and her DNA was recovered from the deployed airbag. She later pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and appeared at Durham Crown Court on Wednesday to be sentenced.
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Ian West, prosecuting, said: "At around 2am the witness had his Volkswagen Passat parked outside his home. He was awoken by an almighty bang and saw that his car had been hit and had moved three or four metres down the road. Bits of another car were lying around the road and he reported it to police. The other car had left the scene without stopping or leaving a note."
Mr West said that shortly before 4pm on the same day, Thompson called the police and reported that a burglary had taken place in her home and her car had been stolen. Around the same time, her car was discovered with "extensive damage" near a sewerage plant and the airbag had been deployed.
"That airbag was recovered and analysed and the DNA matched that of the defendant", Mr West said. It wasn't until February 2021 that Thompson was arrested after attending the police station voluntarily. In a victim statement, the man whose car Thompson hit, said the loss of his vehicle was "detrimental" to his health after being diagnosed with cancer.
The court heard that Thompson had also been dealt with by the courts previously for similar matters. In 2006, she received a conditional discharge after reporting to the police her car had been stolen when in fact it had been crashed by someone she had lent her keys to. She also made a false insurance claim which was paid out. Then, in 2011, she failed to stop at the scene of a collision after she hit another car and fled. She was fined £66 and given eight penalty points.
Andrew Walker, defending, said: "The defendant has lied and she got nobody into trouble apart from herself, it's born out of attempting to hide her own active stupidity and error in driving a vehicle and colliding with a parked car." He added that Thompson suffers from "anxiety and depression" and that "self-harm is a feature of her behaviour recently".
"She has a decent work history and has worked in factories and shops for cleaning companies all of her adult life", he added.
Sentencing Thompson, of Little Burn Way, Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street, Judge James Adkin, the Recorder of Durham, jailed her for 10 months.
