Family’s lives changed forever after car crashed into their home

A family badly injured when a car crashed into their living room have had their lives changed forever, police have said.

David and Claire Garnett were watching television in the early hours of 3 September when the high-performance VW Golf smashed into their home in Rawcliffe, Yorkshire.

The driver, James Andrew Sparham, was jailed for five years at York Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and criminal damage.

He was also banned from driving for seven and a half years, North Yorkshire Police said.

Mr Garnett, 54, his wife and a child managed to escape the wreckage before the car caught fire next to their sofa.

A statement released by North Yorkshire Police on behalf of the family said: “Claire climbed over the burning car and cleared rubble off David then climbed back over it having to carry and pull David over the burning car all the while terrified it would explode.

“Claire fortunately rescued David to the rear of their home whilst the car set alight in their lounge setting fire to the house and its contents all of which have been lost.

“As a result of the incident, David sustained multiple injuries, including loss of vision in his right eye, extreme lower limb injuries requiring extensive skin grafts, a broken nose and numerous soft tissue lacerations and injuries.

“David required a six-week period of hospitalisation at the Leeds major trauma unit and York Hospital and a gruelling period of treatment thereafter which is ongoing.

“David is going to be left with life-long injuries as a result of this criminal incident.

“Claire has suffered back and neck injuries as well as extensive soft tissue trauma and both have suffered severe post traumatic stress.

“The one place anyone should always be able to feel safe is within the four walls of your own home.”

North Yorkshire Police’s Major Collision Investigation Team was unable to find any evidence that Sparham, a labourer from Huntington in York, had tried to avoid a collision.

They also did not find anything wrong with the vehicle.

Sparham’s two passengers – a woman in her 30s and a man in his 20s – also received broken bones and cuts in the crash.

After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Jeremy Bartley of the Major Collision Investigation Team said Sparham’s choices had had a “catastrophic impact on innocent people”.

He added: “The damage he did was not just to a family’s home, but also to their health and their well-being – damage which continues to this day.

“Lives have been changed forever.”

According to the York Press, Mrs Garnett has had to leave her job to become her husband’s full-time carer.

The family fear they will lose their home, with the cost of repairing it put at £175,000.

(c) Sky News 2018: Family’s lives changed forever after car crashed into their home