A thug has been jailed after deliberately crashing his car into a bungalow where an elderly woman was sleeping.
Michael Vose, 40, of Mount Pleasant Avenue, St Helens, crashed into Edna Kearns' bungalow in an attempt to commit suicide following a row with his girlfriend, Bolton Crown Court heard. Vose got behind the BMW's wheel after his girlfriend called the police regarding the row, which saw him attempt to throttle her before punching a hole in the wall and damaging a wardrobe mirror.
Vose told his girlfriend that he was going to kill himself before he took off in the car, driving over a mini-roundabout and later smashing through a fence and into the bungalow in Westhoughton, Bolton.
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Vose smashed through the wall and his BMW went into the bedroom of 92-year-old Edna Kearns. The car hit Mrs Kearns' bed, and left her with two fractured ankles and severe cuts to her legs, reports the M.E.N.
As she cried for help, Vose stumbled away, with police eventually finding and arresting him on Snydale Way, a nearby dual carriageway, as he walked down the middle of the road with swollen hands and ‘significant’ cuts to his head.
Mrs Kearns, of White Horse Grove, Westhoughton, died less than five months after the crash but, according to expert evidence, there was no link between the smash and her death. Bolton Crown Court heard Vose had been out drinking with his girlfriend in Westhoughton pubs Rosehill Tavern and The Wheatsheaf on November 27 last year and continued drinking when they returned back to her house.
Prosecution barrister Alistair Reid told the court an argument broke out in the early hours of the morning, after Vose woke his girlfriend to accuse her of cheating on him, where he gripped her by the neck and squeezed, throttling her in her own bedroom.
After struggling against her partner, the woman managed to break free from his hold and force him out of her bedroom, calling the police for help. Vose, who had punched a hole in the bedroom wall and smashed a wardrobe mirror during the argument, overheard the call, and told his partner he was going to take his own life, getting behind the wheel of his BMW despite being more than double the drink drive limit and almost five times over the driving limit for cocaine.
After smashing into Mrs Kearns' bungalow, Vose staggered away from the scene, leaving the elderly woman trapped and crying for help. She required surgery for her injuries, and was in hospital for three months before she was discharged to a care home in Farnworth on February 14. She tragically died less than five months after the crash but, according to expert evidence, there was no link between the smash and her death.
Sentencing Vose on Tuesday (September 27), Judge Martin Walsh said: "You got into your BMW X6 highly intoxicated and drove the vehicle across a mini roundabout, through a fence, and into a bungalow. You crashed straight through the wall of the bungalow into the bedroom of 92-year-old Edna Kearns, the vehicle collided with the victim's bed.
"There was extensive damage caused to the house, as can be seen in the photographs. You walked away from the scene, the fire service has to remove rubble in order to free Edna Kearns from her bedroom and she was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where she was treated by the trauma team for fractures to both ankles, lacerations to her legs, and extensive trauma.
"She required, underwent, and survived surgery before she was discharged to a care home on February 14. She died on April 8. She never returned to her home."
In a victim impact statement prepared before her death, Mrs Kearns described the pain in her legs as "excruciating" and said that the incident had "changed her life forever". Mr Reid also told the court that she would always leave a light on at the house to let people know that someone was in.
Vose, who has nine previous convictions for 21 offences, including kidnap and blackmail in 2015, two counts of driving while disqualified, and one count of driving with excess alcohol, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of criminal damage, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
A mitigation statement drafted by Vose's solicitor, and read aloud by Mr Reid in Monday's hearing due to the ongoing barrister strike, admitted that Vose had made an “impulsive and dangerous decision to take his own life by driving into a building”. It continued: “If he was able to turn back time he would do so. He is truly sorry for the sadness and distress he has caused. He is unable to forgive himself for his actions.
The statement described Vose’s attack on his girlfriend as an “impulsive, one-off act”. It went on to say that he was earning £60,000 per year as a construction manager at the time of the incident and was the primary carer for both his parents.
Mr Recorder Walsh jailed Vose for four years, handing down a 12-month sentence for the assault on his former partner, to run consecutively to the three-year sentence for injuring Mrs Kearns. He was also banned from driving for five years, which will start from when he is released from prison.
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