Man hit 'peacemaker' with car after prison release

Hugh Holmes was found guilty of intentional wounding

A man who left a "peacemaker" with a devastating brain injury after ramming him with his car following a street brawl has been jailed for 15 years.

A fight broke out between Hugh Holmes, 36, James Cowie, 28, and their associates in Ferryhill, County Durham, on 19 December last year, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Holmes then drove his car at speed at Cowie but instead hit a man who had been trying to calm the situation down, with the victim saying his injuries had made him "change beyond all recognition".

Holmes, who had been released from prison that day, was found guilty of wounding with intent. Cowie was jailed for eight months after admitting affray.

Cowie was standing next to his van and speaking to people on Faraday Street at about 14:45 GMT when Holmes, who was banned from driving, drove past in a Renault Megane belonging to his partner, judge Francis Laird KC said.

'He's killed him'

Holmes' girlfriend was angered by a gesture made by one of the people sitting in Cowie's van, so Holmes stopped the car and the couple got out to start a confrontation, the court heard.

Holmes, of no fixed abode, went straight for Cowie, of Handel Terrace in Wheatley Hill, and threw a punch, the court heard.

Cowie ducked and launched a volley of punches at Holmes, knocking him to the ground where he delivered more blows, Judge Laird said.

Cowie then knocked out another man who was with Holmes, before a resident of the street came out to try and calm things down.

As the resident acted as a "peacemaker", Holmes ran to the Megane and drove to the end of the street before turning around and driving "at speed" back at the group next to Cowie's van, the court heard.

Holmes missed Cowie but smashed into his van and the resident, tossing the man in the air and causing him to strike his head on the wheel arch of the Megane, the judge said.

Holmes then fled on foot as a passer-by shouted he had "killed" the victim, the court heard.

'Half the man I was'

The man had a traumatic brain injury caused by bleeding in his skull, multiple fractures around his eye sockets and other broken bones, the court heard.

He spent two weeks in a coma at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and a further fortnight being cared for there before he discharged himself, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the man said he still lived in pain and his life, behaviour and thought processes had "changed beyond all recognition".

"Every part of my life has changed," the man said, adding: "I feel half the man I used to be."

The court heard Holmes, who had 58 offences on his criminal record including multiple counts of violence, had been released from prison earlier that day having been jailed for two years eight months in 2022 for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He must serve an extra three years on extended licence and has been banned from driving for 15 years.

A restraining order was also made to last indefinitely banning him from contacting the victim or entering Faraday Street.