A DRINK-driver who caused teenagers to scatter when he ploughed into the bench they were sitting on has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Anthony Howells, 32, who was also banned from the road and in breach of a curfew, had already led police on a high speed chase before losing control of his girlfriend’s car.

After smashing the Ford Fiesta, which he had taken without her permission, into a parked car it careered through the bench before ploughing into a garden wall.

And a judge said it was ‘a miracle’ the youngsters escaped unhurt when Howells crashed through where they had been sitting in Purton High Street.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court tpday that Howells had been staying at his girlfriend’s house when she got back and found her car and its keys gone.

On the evening of Saturday, October 10, a police patrol saw the Ford Fiesta being driven erratically on the A419 and tried to get it to pull over.

He said the wheels were screeching and smoking as the car swerved across the road before speeding off in a northerly direction at more than 70mph.

Because the officer, who had his lights and siren on, was not qualified to follow at high speed he had to let it go.

“The vehicle was next seen on the High Street in Purton. It came sweeping round the corner in to the High Street,” Mr Meeke said.

“It crashed into a VW Golf, bounced off that and into a wooden bench a group of teenagers were sitting on.

“They were able to jump out of the way just in time and it then crashed in to the wall of a coach house, causing damage estimated at between £3,000 and £5,000.”

The driver then fled the scene and Mr Meeke said the two cars were also written off as a result of the driving.

The following day he handed himself in to the police saying the drink made him do it, though it was too late for him to be tested.

Howells, of Reids Piece, Purton, pleaded guilty to aggravated taking without consent, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The court heard that just over two months earlier he had been put on a 15 month suspended sentence for a drunken attack on a pensioner in a pub.

He also has a string of other previous convictions for violence and motoring matters including dangerous driving.

Cathy Thornton, defending, said her client had a difficult upbringing and had been diagnosed as having a social anxiety disorder.

She said he had been involved in a ‘rocky relationship’ with his girlfriend and took her car that night with the intention of harming himself.

She said he had been working as a scaffolder and clearly needed help for his problems.

Jailing him Recorder Maria Lamb said “The fact of the matter is you were an absolute liability on wheels.

“It was about as serious offence as it could be: you driving around like that at night. A police officer tried to stop you, you wouldn't stop.

“By the time you ran off you had crashed into a bench teenagers were sitting on. It was nothing short of a miracle that they escaped.

“You have to regard yourself as very fortunate in this case that no one was hurt or killed. If there is anything to be derived from this case it is that.

“There is no way that this court can contemplate anything other than immediate custody.”

As well as jailing him she also banned him from the road for six years and four months and until he has passed an extended test.