A MAN aged 20 has been locked up for six and a half years after deliberately driving at a man and fracturing a bone in his spine.

Banned driver Brandon Horne reversed the vehicle and then accelerated from two metres away and struck his victim.

The man was taken to hospital after complaining of back pain and Judge Andrew Hatton said today that medical evidence confirmed that he had suffered a fractured bone in his lower spine.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the incident took place in Sowerby Bridge on November 22 last year.

Horne, of Halifax Road, Ripponden, was originally charged with attempted murder but at his trial the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He admitted the charge on the basis that it had been an opportunistic and unplanned offence.

He was sentenced to six years’ detention in a young offender institution for the GBH offence with an additional six months imposed consecutively for breaching a suspended sentence order.

Horne’s barrister, Jeremy Barton, conceded that it was good fortune that the victim had not suffered more serious injuries.

Horne, who was 19 at the time, had described the offence as ‘the biggest mistake of his life.’ “He realises how lucky he has been not to cause injuries more serious than he has,” Mr Barton said.

The court heard that the complainant was discharged from hospital three days after the incident and prescribed painkillers.

Horne was banned from driving following an offence of dangerous driving and, in April last year, he was made subject to a 12-month suspended prison sentence for possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Judge Hatton said that the background to the incident was far from clear but Horne had deliberately driven at, and collided with, the complainant.

“The distance between the two of you was approximately two metres but you accelerated, deliberately driving at him,” the judge told Horne over a video link to prison.

He had used the vehicle as ‘a highly dangerous weapon.’ “You have a previous conviction for dangerous driving and you were disqualified from driving as a result of that conviction. You should not have been behind the wheel of a motor car,” Judge Hatton stated.