A MAN forced his ex-girlfriend’s car off the road while she was driving after she confessed to sleeping with his best friend, a court heard.

Aaron James Cooper, 24, started banging his fist on the dashboard when he heard the news before grabbing the steering wheel of the Seat Ibiza as the car was travelling along the A59 last September.

The car left the road and went down an embankment, rolling several times before coming to rest on moorland, leaving driver Tess Hillhouse with a broken vertebrae and a cut to her hand.

Cooper, who pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm during an earlier court appearance, had split up with his girlfriend on September 18, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The following day Miss Hillhouse picked him up from work before the accident happened at Kex Gill Farm near Hazlewood, between Skipton and Harrogate.

Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said that since the incident Miss Hillhouse expected to suffer future health problems due to the back injury.

“This was a dangerous thing to do. Not only to the person you were having the argument with but to other road users.”

Rod Hunt, mitigating, said Cooper had shown remorse and immediately admitted to the police what had happened.

The judge, Recorder Martin Bethel, QC, said: “You have pleaded guilty to a serious offence of causing GBH following the break-up of your relationship with your girlfriend.

“You were driving across a moorland road, according to you, she made an admission of an affair with your best friend. You lost your temper, first you banged your fist on the dashboard before grabbing the steering wheel, forcing the car off the road and causing her injuries and the car serious damage.”

Cooper, of Grove Street, Harrogate, received a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out a two-year supervision order and to attend a building better relationships programme.

He was also issued with a restraining order and ordered to pay £1,000 to his victim as well as an additional £700 to her father to cover the cost of his insurance excess after the car was written off.