A mum-of-two rammed her car into a store assistant and carried him on the bonnet for 50 feet before running over him after nicking two children’s scooters from a toy store.
Barbara Young, 25, drove her Fiat 500 into the West One Retail Park in Eccles then went into the Smyths store with her sister and her son. The women picked up two of the electric scooters worth £130, alongside a bag for life full of items and went to the check out.
Young, of Bolton, walked out of the store with the scooters and put them in the boot of her car, whilst her sister was stopped by the store assistant as he realised the bag hadn’t been paid for.
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The woman apologised and handed him the bag for life back. It was only once he returned to the checkout he noticed the transaction had been voided in relation to the scooters, Manchester Crown Court heard.
“He followed her to the carpark and saw the defendant in the driving seat, and saw a male and a child in the front seat,” Juliet Berry, prosecuting, told the court.
“The second female explained to the defendant that they needed to get the scooter out of the boot, to which she said the boot wouldn’t open. At this point the store assistant became suspicious and took a photo of the registration plate and said he was going to call the police.”
Young’s sister then jumped into the car as Young drove at him. CCTV of the footage showed the man clinging onto the bonnet as she drove away, shortly before he slumped to the ground. She then drove over his feet as she made good her escape.
As he clung on, he struck the windscreen with his phone, causing it to crack.
An hour later the car was found abandoned, along with one of the unicorn scooters and another bag for life. The store assistant’s phone was found on the edge of the windscreen.
Following a check of the car by the police and DVLA, Young was found to be the registered keeper, but the vehicle itself was on false plates and she wasn't insured.
The man sustained numerous injuries including abrasions to his sternum, back, elbow and knuckles.
In a victim's personal statement he said the impact on him physically and mentally was ‘hard to put into words’. Five months on from the incident he still has no diagnosis despite still suffering pain.
“I have to keep going - I just keep living in this cycle of pain and torment,” he said.
Young was said to have seven previous convictions for 19 offences including shoplifting, driving without due care or attention and driving without insurance.
Jane Dagnall, defending, said the car had been a gift from her family, but didn’t know it was stolen. She said she only knew the car was on false plates after her arrest.
“Her instruction is that it wasn’t something she wanted to do. There was very little thought,” Ms Dagnall said. “She has been on remand for two months. The clanging of the prison gates has affected her. It hit home what it’s like to lose her liberty.
“She is a young woman, she is a mother of two and she is totally ashamed and remorseful.”
Jailing Young, of Crompton Lodge Caravan Park, Hall Lane, for 22 months, Recorder Paul Reid QC said: “You got into a car which you had no right to be driving. You had your child with you.
“It’s perfectly clear he was standing immediately in front of your car. You couldn’t avoid seeing him. You chose to drive off with him in front of you, it wasn’t just a nudge, you drove into him with such force that he was propelled on the bonnet of the car and was hanging on.
“You must have known you had driven over him, yet you didn’t stop to see if he was alright, such was your keenness to get away. It’s a miracle he wasn’t more seriously hurt.”
Along with her prison sentence, Young, who pleaded guilty to theft; assault occasioning actual bodily harm and dangerous driving; as well as driving with no insurance; no licence; and failing to stop after an accident; was banned from driving for two years and nine months and made the subject of a restraining order for seven years.
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