Drunk crashed stolen car off bridge on to motorway and left woman trapped inside

A man who left his female passenger with horrific injuries when he crashed a stolen car off a bridge on to a busy motorway has been jailed for almost three years.

Hugh Raymond Holmes had taken a Vauxhall Astra from the woman’s son and was driving it “dangerously” when it fell from the A177 flyover in Durham and landed on the central reservation of the A1(M) on January 21 2022.

The 32-year-old drove through a set of red traffic lights and hit a van, veering across three lanes of traffic and going through the crash barrier at the Bowburn interchange, Durham Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Robin Patton said Holmes was then seen kicking the driver’s door open and getting out, leaving his passenger trapped unconscious inside.

The court heard he tried to blame the woman for the crash, telling witnesses and police she had been driving and had “nicked” her son’s car.

Holmes, of Spennymoor, County Durham, later pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without insurance and failing to provide a specimen of breath.

On Thursday, Judge Ray Singh sentenced him to 32 months in prison.

The red car was reported missing at 9am on January 21 after its owner was told by a friend it was being driven around Spennymoor with his mother and the defendant in it, Mr Patton said.

When he asked to speak to Holmes and told him to stop driving, the response was “incoherent”.

A witness who saw the car that morning described a row between the defendant and his passenger, with him stopping her from getting out of the car, Mr Patton said.

Holmes was involved in a near-miss before the crash when, at about 10.30am, he was seen overtaking another car “at speed” on a single carriageway, narrowly missing a Jeep going the other way.

Witnesses who spoke to Holmes after the crash said his breath stunk of alcohol.

Holmes tried to flee the wreckage by walking up the embankment but was intercepted by a man who tried to stall his departure, Mr Patton said.

When a police officer asked if he was willing to provide a breath sample, the court was told Holmes replied: “Am I f***.”

The passenger suffered a bleed on the brain, a broken neck and multiple fractures of the spine.

Three months on, she is still using a wheelchair, Mr Patton said.

Paul Rooney, mitigating, said Holmes, who was banned from driving at the time of the smash, has apologised to the woman and she “appears to have forgiven him”.

“The only thought you had was for yourself – no-one else.”

Holmes was also banned from driving for 343 weeks.

A Durham Police spokeswoman said: “Not only did Hugh Holmes knowingly take a car without permission, but he was also completely unfit to be behind the wheel.

“His reckless actions resulted in horrific injuries for his passenger which will affect her for the rest of her life.

“We would like to thank the members of the public who assisted in the investigation and those who stopped to help in the aftermath.”