Thief hit delivery driver with victim's own van
Northumbria PoliceA thief who left a delivery driver with life-changing brain injuries when he ran the victim over with his own van has been jailed for three years seven months.
Michael Gill and Gary Rarity, both 43, targeted a Yodel driver on his round in Sunderland shortly before Christmas, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The victim, who was in his 50s and suffered a head injury which resulted in part of his skull needing to be removed, said his life had been "taken away", while his family said the thieves showed a "complete disregard" for his survival.
Gill, who had 148 offences on his criminal record, admitted theft and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Rarity will be sentenced at a future date.
Gill and Rarity were in a car which was following the driver's van on 16 December. They decided to steal it while he was making a delivery on Stannington Gardens, prosecutor Vincent Ward said.
Gill climbed into the driver's seat and drove it away at speed, the court heard, and as the driver tried to stop him he was run over.
As passers-by tried to help the stricken and unconscious man, Gill and Rarity went to another street where they and others unloaded the van, Ward said, with 157 parcels stolen.
'Lifelong battle'
The victim suffered multiple "life-threatening" seizures on his way to hospital and had to have part of his skull removed to ease pressure on his brain in a life-saving operation, the court heard.
He spent five months in hospital, some of that time in a coma, before being allowed to go home.
In a statement read to the court, the man said he still had a hole in his skull and had been warned a simple fall could kill him.
He said the life he knew had been "taken away" by the thieves, adding: "I no longer feel I am living, I am simply existing."
The man said he had enjoyed his job, which he had held for eight years, but could no longer work and had lost all independence.
"I am nowhere near the person I was before," he said, adding he would "struggle" with that every day and it would be a "lifelong battle".
The victim said he hoped the thieves would "make positive changes in their lives" and "contribute to society in the future".
'Awful state'
His sister said what had happened to her brother was "truly heartbreaking" and the family had "endured the distress" of seeing him in a coma in hospital while not knowing how he would recover.
She said the thieves "did not have the decency" to stop after hitting her brother and showed a "complete disregard" for his life.
The court heard Gill, of Cairo Street in Sunderland, was a crack cocaine user with an extensive criminal record including for burglary, theft and dangerous driving.
Judge Stephen Earl said the incident was "horrific" and Gill must have known the man had been "seriously injured" yet left him in a "completely awful state".
The delivery driver had been "significantly injured" and would be "unable to undertake his normal life" again, the judge said.
Gill, who was banned from driving at the time, has been disqualified for a further four years and nine and a half months.