A suicidal driver deliberately ploughed his car into an historic Warwickshire toll house, causing £80,000 worth of damage and injuring one of the householders.
Grant Bond, described as “tortured”, downed sleeping pills and booze and even rang The Samaritans, before deliberately aiming his Ford Fiesta at the listed building like a missile.
But he survived the bungled bungalow suicide bid, suffering a catalogue of serious injuries including a fractured pelvis.
The car careered into the dining room at 80mph, injuring the elderly owners’ daughter.
The woman, in her 50s, suffered whiplash and still has flashbacks about the horrific accident.
Bond was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting causing damage being reckless whether life was endangered and dangerous driving.
At Warwick Crown Court, judge Richard Griffith-Jones said: “It was a wicked thing to do.
“In the terrible circumstances of intending to take your own life, the way you did it was to risk the lives of others.”
Pensioner Barry Lea, owner of the landmark South Lodge Old Toll House on Evesham Road, Weethley, near Stratford-upon-Avon, said he heard a noise like a low-flying bomber seconds before the Fiesta smashed through a wall.
He looked out of the kitchen window at around 5.30am to see the silver Fiesta travelling at breakneck speed towards the house.
Bond, aged 23, had believed his target on August 15 was an unoccupied corner shop or wall, the court heard.
He’d earlier rang police from his car and told them he felt suicidal, but did not want to be arrested.
Interviewed after the smash, he told them he had very little memory of what happened, but could recall sobbing before ploughing into the house.
Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said: “His history is a sad and tortured one. The problem is that if someone in that awful position decides to kill themselves by risking other people’s lives, it is a very serious crime.”
And he told Bond, of Alcester: “I have been able to see material about your personal history. I’m not going to recite it in public, but you have had serious difficulties in your life.
“By August last year it is obvious that you had become desperate and determined to kill yourself, which is an awful position for anyone to be in.
“I don’t want you to think that when I describe your behaviour as wicked I am ignoring the degree of desperation you had reached, nor is it a case where you were so clear-thinking that you identified someone’s house and decided you were going to drive into it, not caring about who may also lose their life.
“Without really giving proper consideration to what it was you were driving at, you drove straight at that lodge.
“It was a wicked thing to do. In the terrible circumstances of intending to take your own life, the way you did it was to risk the lives of others.”
Geoffrey Dann, defending, said Bond was at an “extremely low ebb” and added prison would punish his client, but not address his problems.
Bond had struggled since the death of his father when he was just 15.
Mr Dann added: “The pre-sentence report and psychological report set out very clearly his present and previous history and his mental health.”
Bond was also disqualified from driving for two years, after which he will have to take an extended test before getting his licence back.
A spokesman for the family said: “What is done is done, but this has had a real impact on Mr and Mrs Lea, who are in their 70s and have lived at the house for 30 years.
“The impact on the family has been horrendous.
“It’s a listed building and the repairs have only just been completed.
“People say, living on a corner, the house must have been hit by cars many times. But this was the first.”