Young Wirral dad is jailed for joyriding in his granddad’s Motability car

Jul 11 2012 by Helen Hunt, Bromborough and Bebington News

A WIRRAL man was given an 18-month jail sentence for taking his grandad’s car, driving it while drunk and leaving it smashed up in a hedge.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that James Hill’s grandad had given him the keys to his home so he could come and go as he pleased.

But in the early hours of September 19 last year, without his grandad’s knowledge, the 25-year-old took the keys to his 2009 Vauxhall Zafira and crashed it into a hedge in Brimstage Road, Clatterbridge.

Hill was left with a pelvis broken in four places. His friend, who was a passenger in the car, was also injured.

Judge Robert Warnock sentenced Hill, of Home Farm Road, Woodchurch, to 18 months imprisonment after hearing he had 28 convictions for crimes including dishonesty, public disorder, attempted robbery, various anti-social behaviour orders and a handful of driving offences including drunk driving.

He was also disqualified from driving for three-and-a-half years.

Simon Duncan, prosecuting, said Hill had taken his grandfather’s Motability car.

He said Hill’s grandparents were woken up in the early hours by a police officer who told them the Zafira had been in a crash.

Earlier that morning, a female police officer had been flagged down by a friend of the defendant and passenger who directed her to the crash scene. She found the empty car overturned on its roof.

Hill was discovered lying 10m away “unresponsive”.

Mr Duncan said: “He appeared to be sleeping and smelled of alcohol.”

A sample of blood later revealed that Hill had 188mg of alcohol in his blood. The legal limit is 80mg which means he was more than twice the legal limit to drive.

He gave a no comment interview to the police on October 6 but earlier this year in June pleaded guilty to the offence of aggravated vehicle taking, driving while under the influence of excess alcohol, driving with no insurance and driving while disqualified.

Simon Leong, defending, said that his client had had a “wake-up call”.

He said: “This last year he has learned a lesson that actions have consequences.”

He added that Hill was building bridges with his family after the incident caused disruption between them and said it was his “intention to grow up and sort out his own life and be a positive influence on his son”.

Judge Warnock warned Hill: ““Unless you address this [repeat offending] you face a life in prison.”