A teenager who crashed his mother’s Audi S5 fracturing a young woman’s spine while driving like “an absolute maniac” has been locked up for two years and four months.

Tyler Horne, who had taken the car without permission, lost control of it and veered across the road into a tree, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

He had three young women passengers one of whom took the full impact of the smash and suffered a fractured spine and a broken bone in her back.

The injury left her within millimetres of being paralysed, the court was told.

Horne, now 20, of Halifax Road, Ripponden, admitted causing the woman serious injury by dangerous driving on Huddersfield Road, Halifax, on August 26, 2019.

Prosecutor Ian Brook said Horne, who was unlicensed and uninsured, was giving his three passengers a lift home from Fusion Nightclub in Halifax. He collected the first women at 4.45am but then went back for their friend.

They described Horne as driving the white Audi “like an idiot” and “an absolute maniac” through the town centre and past Calderdale Royal Hospital.

The tyres were squealing and he was shouting “Whoa!” at the top of his voice, Mr Brook said.

He was overtaking “like a madman” while the young woman he seriously injured shouted at him to slow down.

Horne lost control of the car and it veered across the road and crashed into a tree.

He demanded that his passengers get out, shouting that he was drunk and threatening them not to say he was driving.

“Don’t mess with me…I know where you live and I’ll ruin your life,” he said.

The three young women walked away but one was seriously injured and collapsed.

She was taken to hospital where she was found to have a fractured spine and a broken bone in her back.

She was in hospital for 11 days and was at first unable to walk. She had to wear a back brace for weeks and she was off work for months.

Mr Brook said there were numerous attempts to locate Horne and he was circulated by the police as wanted before being arrested in November, 2019. He made no comment in his interview and at first pleaded not guilty.

Anastasis Tasou, Horne’s barrister, said he was 18 at the time and immature.

He drove “like a maniac” hoping to return the Audi before his mother noticed it was gone.

“It was a stupid and childish act to take his mother’s new car while she was at work,” Mr Tasou said.

The crash weighed heavily on Horne’s mind and he thought about it every day. He had no previous convictions and had stayed out of trouble since.

Judge Jonathan Rose said he had endangered other road users as well as his three passen-gers.

He made no attempt to ask how the women were following the crash, or to call the police or an ambulance. He fled the scene “in a cowardly fashion.”

Horne was sent to a young offender institution for 28 months and banned from driving for four years and four months and until he takes an extended test.