Banned driver is jailed for reversing over girl after argument with partner

Demi Bullock was hit after bravely pushing her brother Dean out of the path of the vehicle driven by Levi McNeil, who then reversed over her legs, fracturing a heel bone and cutting the right ankle to the bone, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday.

The 25-year-old was going out with her sister Kerry Biddle but the couple had a row and he used the Toyota people carrier taken from his mother's home in Kidderminster without permission like a weapon, it was said.

He drove to Bedford Street in Stow Heath, Wolverhampton, where his partner lived, and smashed in to a garden wall causing £1,500 damage while twice sweeping along the road yelling threats, said Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting.

Miss Bullock and her brother were in the street when McNeil returned in the vehicle for the third time and headed in their direction, the court heard.

Mr Jones said: "Demi moved into the street and pushed her brother out of the way, sending him falling against a wall.

"While in the process of doing that she saw the driver steer towards her and before she could do anything she was hit on the hip. The vehicle stopped and deliberately went over her legs and ankles before driving off."

Miss Bullock spent eight weeks on crutches in a plaster cast, is still in pain more than four months after the November 25 incident and will be permanently scarred, he added.

She told police: "I still cannot believe that he did this to me. I was very scared and frightened that he was going to reverse over my body and not just my legs. I never want to see him gain."

But her sister remained loyal to McNeil, said Mr Christopher O'Gorman, defending, who added: "He was in a temper that night and clearly knew he was banned from driving and had drunk too much when he set off in his mother's vehicle.

"But after that, nothing he did was planned beyond those few seconds before he drove at Dean who was standing in the road waving at the defendant. The end result could have been a great deal worse than it turned out to be."

McNeil, of no fixed address, admitted wounding, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage, dangerous driving, along with a variety of motoring offences, including drink driving, and was jailed for four-and-a-half years. He was also banned from driving for three years.

Judge Michael Dudley said: "You may only have conceived the notion seconds before you actually hit anyone but the seriousness of this case is the deliberate use of a vehicle as a weapon."