Northumberland man jailed after ramming car into wife's living room wall

A terrified mum feared her home would ‘collapse’ when her estranged husband rammed his car into her living room wall.
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Fiona Wright said she could feel the house ‘shaking’ when John Wright ploughed his vehicle into the brick work, twice, after his anger ‘boiled over’ at the end of the their 26-year relationship last December.

Pictures of the damage showed the car had broken through the wall below her main living room window and caused a radiator to come off the wall.

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Wright, 40, had also hit his wife's Volkswagen Bora motor, which was not badly damaged.

Newcastle Crown Court. Newcastle Crown Court.
Newcastle Crown Court.

He told officers at the police station "I should have shot her", "I tried to kill my wife, not myself" and that he had wanted to see his children.

Prosecutor Barry Robson told Newcastle Crown Court Mrs Wright had been at home in Bedlington in the early evening, with the couple's three children, when they heard a ‘bang’ outside and saw the car had been hit.

Mr Robson added: "The car accelerated into the drive and crashed into the front of the house.

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"The silver car then reversed and accelerated again towards the front of the house.

"Each time the car hit the house she could feel the building shaking so much she thought it was going to collapse."

Mr Robson added: "There was significant damage to the brickwork.

"Pictures from inside the living room show where the car broke through the brick work, moving a radiator and sofa under the main living room window."

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The court heard the mum and her children went to the back of the house in a bid to stay safe and then heard wright shouting and banging at the door before he left.

Mr Robson said although there was significant damage to the brick work at the front of the house, where the car had ‘broke through’ but there was no signs of structural collapse.

Wright, of Millfield Court, Bedlington Station, admitted damaging property and damaging property being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Mrs Wright said in an impact statement: "This has left me in fear of John.

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"He knows everything about me, not to mention the financial implications.

"If the car doesn't work I cant work, meaning I can't feed the kids."

Mr Recorder David Brooke QC sentenced Wright to two years behind bars.

The judge told him: "You deliberately drove onto the driveway and crashed into your wife's car, damaging it, then you drove a couple of times into the house.

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"I have seen the photographs. Underneath the window bricks had been pushed through.

"Your wife said she felt the house shake.

"It is quite plain your anger had boiled over, you were trying to cause damage."

Susannah Proctor, defending, said Wright is remorseful for what he did and added : "It was not a planned event."

Miss Proctor said Wright, who was in employment, had become anxious and ‘bottled things up’ before the offences.

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Miss Proctor said the break-up had been ‘devastating’ for Wright, who did not want to split but now knows the relationship is over.

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