Drug driver 'blighted' pensioners' lives in crash

Steven Ormston admitted multiple offences, including four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving

A drug driver who ruined the lives of two pensioners when he smashed head-on into their car while fleeing police has been jailed for almost five years.

Steven Ormston, 40, also seriously injured his two teenage passengers when he crashed while driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway high on cocaine and ketamine, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The elderly couple were left with life-changing injuries, with Recorder Richard Herrmann saying Ormston's "disgraceful driving" had "blighted their otherwise happy and well-earned retirement years".

Ormston was jailed for four years and 10 months for four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and for a separate assault on his partner.

Ormston, of Hareside Walk in Newburn, Newcastle, was first spotted driving a transit van erratically on Newburn Road at about 07:45 BST on 8 September 2023, the judge said.

Several people saw him speeding and driving dangerously around the busy residential and shopping area, with Ormston laughing and shouting at anyone who challenged him, the court heard.

Steven Ormston was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court

At one point he drove at speed at a female pedestrian who was remonstrating with him, and later stopped in the middle of the road to ask another driver for a lighter, with the man later recalling smelling alcohol on Ormston's breath and seeing him drinking from a can of lager.

Police received multiple calls about his behaviour, but Ormston refused to stop for officers, leading to a high-speed pursuit by police towards Cramlington.

Ormston then went the wrong way around a roundabout, causing another van to have to take evasive action, and sped along the wrong side of a dual carriageway, narrowly missing several oncoming cars, the court heard.

It was only thanks to the reactions of other drivers that there was not an earlier accident, with Ormston making "no effort" to slow down or steer out of the way of other cars, Recorder Herrmann said.

'Consequences were inevitable'

The pursuit ended as Ormston rounded a bend and smashed into a car being driven by a man in his 70s, whose wife was in the front passenger seat, the court heard.

The driver made a "valiant and brave" attempt to swerve out of the van's way. but was struck practically head on, the judge said.

"It is almost impossible to imagine a more dangerous passage of driving," the recorder said, adding: "The consequences were inevitable."

Among a catalogue of injuries, the man suffered fractures to his spine, pelvis, right foot and left shoulder, as well as broken ribs.

The woman, who had to be cut free from the car, spent several months in hospital being treated for broken ribs, a collapsed lung, fractured vertebrae in her spine and internal injuries, the court heard.

'Irreversible injuries'

In statements, the couple described their ongoing physical discomfort as "agony", adding they could no longer do simple day-to-day tasks, such as lifting objects or closing the curtains.

The man said he had "gone 70 years" without breaking a bone, but he now endured daily torment which made him regularly "cry out in pain".

He said he could no longer do things that other people "take for granted", adding: "There was so much myself and [my wife] wanted to do, now we cannot.

"Life has changed and it cannot be undone."

The woman said she remained on painkillers, and estimated she had taken more than 6,000 tablets since the crash.

Her days were now planned around her pain management, she said, calling her injuries "permanent and irreversible".

Assaulted partner

After hearing the statements, Recorder Herrmann told Ormston: "It is no exaggeration to say your disgraceful driving has blighted their otherwise happy and well-earned retirement years."

Ormston was found to be more than nine times over the driving limit for ketamine, and three times over the limit for cocaine, the court heard.

There were two 15-year-old boys in his van during the incident, one of whom has been left unable to walk properly due to a broken pelvis and the other of whom had suffered a bleed on the brain and fractures to his face.

On 8 November 2023, having been released on bail, Ormston launched a vicious assault on his partner, repeatedly punching and slapping her, battering her head against a radiator and dragging her by her hair, claiming it was her fault he was going to prison for the driving offences, the court heard.

Orsmton was disqualified from driving for five years and seven months, and a restraining order, banning him from contacting his partner, was made for a period of five years.