Deliv­ery driver knocked over in theft of par­cels

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/sunderla ... 8844618235

A dis­qual­i­fied driver who mowed down a Yodel deliv­ery man with his own vehicle dur­ing a planned heist to steal a stack of Christ­mas par­cels has been jailed.

Michael Gill sped away from his vic­tim, who he aban­doned in the foetal pos­i­tion in the middle of the road, with “grave and lifethreat­en­ing” injur­ies.

The 54-year-old driver, who was on his rounds, was rushed to hos­pital after the incid­ent in Stan­ning­ton Gar­dens, in Sun­der­land, on Decem­ber 16 and suffered mul­tiple seizures in an ambu­lance before hav­ing part of his skull removed.

New­castle Crown Court heard how Gill, along­side Gary Rar­ity, 43, got behind the wheel of a Volvo they bought just days earlier, before tar­get­ing the vic­tim as he was deliv­er­ing par­cels in the street.

The court heard that CCTV cap­tured Gill, 43, exit­ing the car and get­ting into the deliv­ery driver's vehicle, which con­tained a num­ber of par­cels, while the man was post­ing pack­ages.

The defend­ant then pro­ceeded to reverse at speed away from the driver, who ran out into the middle of the road in a des­per­ate bid to stop the theft.

But Gill, of Cairo Street, in Hen­don, Sun­der­land, drove for­ward and hit him, before pulling away, fol­lowed by Rar­ity in the Volvo. The pair then “calmly” dis­trib­uted the par­cels they had stolen to oth­ers.

A mov­ing vic­tim impact state­ment from the driver, who spent five months in hos­pital after­wards, revealed he now struggles with basic tasks, will never drive again and must undergo fur­ther sur­gery to install a plate on his skull.

“I feel that the acci­dent has taken away my life,” the court heard.

“Before the acci­dent I was a hard worker, I enjoyed my job, I enjoyed driv­ing.

“Now I can no longer work or drive and I have lost my inde­pend­ence.

“I do not know if I will ever fully recover. I am nowhere near the per­son I was before.

“I feel I am facing a lifelong battle. I am grate­ful that I am still alive.

“Part of me feels hope­ful and believes I will recover but another part of me tells me that I will never be the same again.”

Lee Fish, in mit­ig­a­tion, emphas­ised that Gill was remorse­ful, stat­ing the vic­tim was struck as Gill was “try­ing to get away”.

Mr Fish said: “He acknow­ledges the dev­ast­at­ing con­sequences of his actions. “While it may offer very little com­fort, he is truly sorry for what he has done. “He recog­nises that he deserves to be pun­ished.”

Judge Stephen Earl said Gill would have been aware that his vic­tim was very ser­i­ously hurt.

The judge sen­tenced him to three years and seven months behind bars after the defend­ant pleaded guilty to caus­ing ser­i­ous injury by dan­ger­ous driv­ing, driv­ing while dis­qual­i­fied and theft at a pre­vi­ous hear­ing.

He was also dis­qual­i­fied from driv­ing for four years and nine and a half months.

“This was a hor­rific cir­cum­stance,” he added. “The real­ity, of course, is that you decided that you wanted to steal the par­cels in his car.

“The way to do that is you would find the route, find the man and take the oppor­tun­ity.”

Rar­ity, 43, of Toward Road, Hen­don, Sun­der­land, has been con­victed of driv­ing whilst dis­qual­i­fied and theft and is due to be sen­tenced later.