Michael Vose: BMW driver jailed after Westhoughton home crash

Michael Vose, 40, "deliberately" crashed into 92-year-old Edna Kearns’ home on White Horse Grove, Westhoughton, in the early hours of November 28 last year, apparently in a bid to end his own life after drunkenly assaulting his girlfriend earlier that night.

Brought before Bolton Crown Court, the honorary recorder for Bolton Judge Martin Walsh told Vose, of Mount Pleasant Avenue, St Helens, that his actions were all the more serious due to his deliberate decision to crash the car.

He said: “A conscious decision was taken to drive the vehicle aggressively when you were heavily intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine.”

He added: “Mrs Kearns very sadly died on April 8, she never returned to her home.”

Edna Kearns was 92 years old (Image: Public)

Vose, who had been working as a construction manager for £60,000 a year, had nine previous convictions, including for blackmail and kidnap in 2015 and at the time was still serving a community order for racially aggravated offences.

Mrs Kearns, who had to be rescued from the rubble by firefighters suffered cuts to her legs, a fractured ankle and had to have surgery which could have been extremely dangerous for a 92-year-old.

The aftermath of the crash into Mrs Kearns' home (Image: Newsquest)

A statement from Mrs Kearns said that she feared she had "lost her independence" due to Vose’s actions and had to spend Christmas away from home.

But Judge Walsh accepted that Vose was due to be sentenced for causing injury by dangerous driving, after medics did not link Mrs Kearns’ death on April 8 to her injuries sustained that night.

Over the course of a two-day sentencing hearing, the court heard from prosecutor Alistair Reid how Vose had twice grabbed his girlfriend by the neck and broke a mirror in her bedroom after drunkenly accusing her of cheating on him.

She eventually managed to force him from the room and called 999.

Judge Walsh said: “As she was on the phone to the police, she could hear you saying that you were going to kill yourself.”

Vose then got in his BMW X6 and drove down Chew Moor Lane, before driving over a roundabout and straight into Mrs Kearns’ bedroom as the retired civil servant slept.

He left the house and was eventually arrested while walking down a dual carriageway.

The 40-year-old pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm for the attack on his girlfriend, criminal damage to her flat and another count of criminal damage for the destruction wrought on Mrs Kearns’ home.

He also pleaded guilty to causing injury by dangerous driving at a plea and trial preparation hearing.

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In Vose’s defence, Mr Reid said that he was truly remorseful for the harm caused to Mrs Kearns and that he had been living with the guilty for what he had done while remanded in custody.

Mr Reid said that “if he could turn back time he would.”

Judge Walsh sentenced Vose to a total of four years imprisonment for his crimes and banned him from driving for five years, including an extra two years ban to include the time he spends in prison.