A DRINK driver who demolished a family’s home when he crashed into their living room has been jailed for five years.

David and Claire Garnett were watching television at 1.25am in their house on Morehall Close, Clifton Moor, when “with a sound like a bomb” James Andrew Sparham’s “souped-up” Golf smashed through the wall, said Rachel Landin, prosecuting.

Mrs Garnett had just got up to go to the kitchen. She turned to see their house plunged into darkness and her husband trapped in rubble under the burning, smoking wreckage of the Golf.

Ms Landin said Sparham had been driving at 80mph along nearby Longwood Road, ignoring the cries and shouts of his two passengers to slow down.

He was nearly three times the drink drive limit.

Mr Garnett spent weeks in hospital and still needs daily medical treatment. All the family have suffered psychologically, the court heard.

Because of the crash on September 3, the house has had to be rebuilt, the family lost all their possessions through the fire and neither of the couple can work, said the barrister.

“Your home is your castle,” said Mrs Garnett in a statement to the court.

“If you cannot feel safe in your home, where can you feel safe? 

“I worry about the future, where we will be living, how we will be coping financially.”

Sparham's front seat passenger Sophie Armitage suffered a blood clot on the lung and other internal injuries and rear seat passenger Nathan Lofthouse had multiple broken bones.

Sparham, 29, of Geldof Road, Huntington, pleaded guilty to three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and one of causing criminal damage estimated at costing £175,000 to repair.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said he had been on a “motorised pub crawl”.

“This was not an aberration on your part. It was prolonged, it was persistent and you ignored the warnings from passengers in the vehicle,” he told Sparham.

He jailed Sparham for five years, banned him from driving for seven and a half years and ordered him to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

Ms Landin said the crash was the end of hours of bad driving in different parts of York from 7.25pm onwards during which Sparham had narrowly missed two bicycles, gone through a red light, performed dangerous overtaking manoeuvres and forced a car to brake so suddenly it set off internal warnings.

For Sparham, Stephen Littlewood said: “He is thoroughly ashamed and incredibly remorseful and he is sorry for the damage he has done.” He had lost the chance of a secure job and was receiving counselling and help in changing his lifestyle.

“He wants to make whatever reparation he can back to the family and the community,” said Mr Littlewood.

Outside court, Detective Sergeant Jeremy Bartley of the Major Collision Investigation Team, said: “Our investigation has shown that this incident was absolutely avoidable. "It didn’t have to happen. It was an act of stupidity that had dire consequences.”

Sparham didn't answer questions about how the crash happened when police formally interviewed him, though he had admitted drink driving and being the driver at the scene.

That meant the team had to work out exactly what had happened without his help. 

They recreated the crash in a controlled environment using a similar car and worked out that even with the steering at full lock, the car should have stayed under the driver's  control. 

They also couldn't find any defects in the car or evidence that he had tried to avoid a collision. 

Det Sgt Bartley said: “The advanced techniques we used to investigate cases such as this allow us to piece together an incredibly detailed picture of what happened, and why it happened.

"So even without the driver’s full co-operation, we’re able to build a case that is strong enough to convict people of serious driving offences.

“This was a long and complex investigation, so I’m relieved that Sparham is not only off our roads, but also has plenty of time to reflect on his actions while serving his custodial sentence.”

“I would like to thank the local and wider community for answering our witness appeals and providing a valuable picture of the events leading up to the incident.

“The choices Sparham made that night have had a catastrophic impact on innocent people.

“The damage he did was not just to a family’s home, but also to their health and their wellbeing – damage which continues to this day. Lives have been changed forever."