Men who stole a car, mounted a pavement, struck a woman and crashed the vehicle as they tried to evade police have been sentenced.
The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was hit by the stolen Nissan X-Trail, leaving her with a broken back, pelvis and leg.
Ryan Deans, the driver, has been locked up for four-and-a-half years for his role in the crime.
The 35-year-old mum had popped round to her local shop to buy some dinner for her children when the car collided with her.
Deans was speeding at 60mph in a 30mph zone on Saturday April 3 2021 when he drove onto the pavement and knocked the woman off her feet before crashing into steel bollards.
33-year-old Deans fled the car along with his passenger.
Deans was able to escape police, who chased his passenger Thomas Keogh after noticing he had a knife.
Officers stopped Keogh not far from the crash on Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester.
The 29-year-old ‘pretended to have some kind of fit’ and because of a suspected head injury he was given priority, meaning the woman’s treatment was delayed.
According to Manchester Evening News, Keogh launched into a vile outburst against staff who were trying to help him.
Just three days later, Deans was back behind the wheel, driving a stolen car while disqualified with his girlfriend and her child in the vehicle.
He has now been banned from driving for 10 years. Keogh was jailed for 21 months.
Manchester Crown Court heard that police became suspicious of the X-Trail at about 5.45pm on April 3, at the junction of Waterloo Road and Cheetham Hill Road, and decided to follow it.
The car was being driven on false plates, and had been stolen in a burglary of a house in Longsight two days earlier.
Deans ‘panicked’ after realising he was being followed, and a short chase ensued.
He reached speeds of 60mph in a 30mph zone, went through a red light and overtook other cars.
Deans made a right turn and left the road, mounting the pavement at the junction of Woodlands Street and Cheetham Hill Road.
He hit the woman, who was lifted off her feet and thrown several metres.
Rather than stop and help her, Deans and Keogh fled.
Police chased Keogh after seeing he had a knife, while Deans ‘nonchalantly’ walked away and went into a shop.
His DNA was found on the driver’s airbag. Keogh was arrested at the scene.
Prosecutor Craig MacGregor said Keogh ‘pretended to have some kind of fit’, believing he ‘feigned injury in order to be taken to hospital’.
He said the victim was ‘left waiting while another ambulance arrived’.
“It delayed her treatment,” Mr MacGregor said.
At hospital he asked for his handcuffs to be taken off, and abused staff.
The victim suffered a broken back, a broken leg in two places as well as a fractured pelvis. She needed emergency surgery and spent a week in hospital.
Months later she still suffers pain, has difficulty getting out of bed and doing household chores.
The pain means she doesn’t get up to take her children to school or make them breakfast, and her 14-year-old daughter has taken on more responsibilities.
The mum has left Manchester for Wolverhampton to be nearer to other members of her family.
Mr MacGregor said: “She is missing out on spending precious time with her children because of her injuries.”
She has flashbacks and was left traumatised, fearing being near roads in case something similar happens.
Deans was arrested about two weeks later, after the results of DNA tests had come back.
But just three days after mowing down his victim, he was out in a stolen car, and driving while disqualified.
Mr MacGregor said it showed Deans had ‘total disregard for his life and the lives of those he should care about’.
He had his girlfriend and her child in the car.
Deans was described as a ‘career criminal’, having 42 previous convictions.
He was banned from driving at the time of the horror crash.
His barrister Stuart Duke said Deans was ‘sickened’ by CCTV footage of the crash, and ‘sickened’ by his behaviour.
Mr Duke said the victim is ‘very fortunate to be alive’.
Keogh, who has 25 previous convictions, is ‘genuinely sorry’, his barrister Patrick Harris said.
The judge, Recorder Anthony O’Donohoe, slammed Keogh for his ‘appalling’ behaviour.
“You are not to be sentenced for for your behaviour in the hospital following your arrest, but it was callous and appalling to say the very least,” he said.
“The most significant aspect of that is, to your everlasting shame, it delayed the treatment of the victim who was seriously injured.”
The judge said it ‘almost beggared belief’ that Deans was out driving again days after the incident.
Deans, from Eccles, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, handling stolen goods, driving while disqualified, failing to stop and driving without insurance.
The maximum sentence for causing serious injury by dangerous driving is five years.
A third man, Ellis Barrett, of Tarporley Avenue, Manchester, was sentenced to a community order, curfew with a tag, and disqualified from driving after pleading guilty to theft without consent and being carried in a stolen motor vehicle.
