A DRIVER who left a mother-of three paralysed and brain damaged after smashing into her car while trying to evade police in a stolen vehicle has been jailed.

Lewis Rigby, 23, was jailed for three years and nine months following the horrific high-speed crash in Bolton Road West in Holcombe Brook, near Ramsbottom, which left 36-year-old Clare King with life-changing injuries.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Rigby reached speeds of more than 110 miles per hour in the stolen Honda Civic during the police chase on May 31.

At the time he hit Mrs King’s Ford Fiesta he was being pursued by the police and an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation is still ongoing.

The court was told police followed the car for eight minutes through Bury, onto the M66 into Ramsbottom town centre and towards Holcombe Brook, where it collided with Mrs King’s Ford Fiesta near the junction with Longsight Road.

The court heard how Rigby reached speeds of up to 111mph on the M66 and 90mph in 30mph zones before colliding with Mrs King’s car, which she had to be cut out of.

Eyewitnesses described hearing a ‘massive screech and then a bang’ in the moments leading up to the collision.

The court heard how Mrs King, who worked in mental health in the NHS, suffered brain damage, a fractured spine and wrist and lost all movement in the right side of her body following the crash.

It was also revealed she may never be able to walk or talk again, has had the left side of her skull removed and has remained in hospital since the incident.

Michael Morley, prosecuting, read out a statement from Mrs King’s husband, Joseph in which he described his wife as a ‘caring and generous woman’.

Mr Morley said: “The actions of the driver have put an end to the life we had built together. She will never fully recover and we will have to live with the consequences forever. My only hope is that the guilt the driver should feel, stays with him for the rest of his life.”

Michael Lea, defending, said: “Mr Rigby was 22 at the time of this tragic incident and he bitterly regrets being involved and what has happened to Mrs King.”

“I am sure the guilt, shame and remorse will live with him for the rest of his life.

Judge Graeme Smith sentenced Rigby to three years and nine months imprisonment and disqualified him from driving for six years and eight months, after pleading guilty to serious injury by dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance.

Judge Smith said: “Mrs King is a mother to three boys, aged five, three and one, not only have you caused serious injuries, you have damaged family relationships. Her children will have no recollection of a fully able mother.

“It is only a matter of luck that other people were not injured.”