A puppy thief left a trail of destruction behind him as he tried to evade police including killing the stolen dog and leaving a woman with life-changing injuries.
Danny Frankham, 31, snatched five cocker spaniel puppies and their mother from a barn near Canterbury in Kent before he made his getaway by car.
His recklessness resulted in the death of one of the dogs and breaking a woman’s spine and legs in a crash as he tried to evade police.
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Nicole Hambleton was driving in the opposite direction when she saw Frankham’s vehicle drifting head-on towards her “like a race car”.
When Frankham, who tested positive for cannabis, lost control, he crashed head on with Ms Hambelton’s white Vauxhall Corsa.
The young woman sustained life-changing injuries, including fractures to her spine and legs.
Ms Hambleton, 24, was bedridden for three months and had to learn to walk again following a painstaking nine-hour operation.
Supported by her mother in court, Ms Hambleton, who is from Manston, Kent, said: “I still have to look in the mirror every day and see my scars."
She explained how she is only able to stand for short periods as her mobility remains “severely restricted”.
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Describing her anguish following the crash, she said: “My recovery made me feel like I was a child again, where my mum became my full-time carer while I was bed-bound for three months.
“As a young woman that felt embarrassing – I lost part of my life I won’t get back.
“My frustration and anger towards the world following the crash eventually led me into counselling.”
Frankham and an accomplice snuck into an unlocked barn in Canterbury and snatched a litter of five puppies and their mother to ensure they could be fed milk.
The pair bundled the cocker spaniels, worth about £1,300 each, into Frankham’s car.
Following the crash, Frankham’s Subaru careered into trees and came to a rest at a riverbank.
He and his accomplice waded through the river and split up, with Frankham hiding in a fisherman’s tent after discarding his wet clothes.
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But a police dog soon traced Frankham, who had sustained cuts and swelling. He was taken to a hospital under police escort.
Miss Hambelton described the car driving on her side of the road, that it was going so fast it looked like it was doing 100mph.
Laurence Imrie, prosecuting, said: “She had no time to react or brake and the car hit her head on – she says that she shut her eyes and the car was spinning around.
“One of the dogs had to be put down and another was never recovered.”
Piers Walter, who represented Frankham stressed the offender pleaded guilty on the day of trial and claimed he didn’t see the police’s blue lights. He wished to apologise “for the accident" and was "ashamed" of his behaviour.
Ms Hambleton said she cried in court because she knew he was only apologising to get a lighter sentence.
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She said: “I cried because I knew full well his intentions of writing it was to try and get a lower sentence, not because he was actually sorry.
“He didn’t have any remorse for what he did to me.”
Mr Walter argued Frankham was not trying to avoid the police at the time his car accelerated. However, the judge, Recorder Amy Nicholson, rejected the claims.
The judge said: “In my judgement, you do not show true remorse – the remorse is for the situation in which you find yourself.
“Through your counsel, you say you are sorry for the accident, it was not an accident, it was a criminal act.”
Frankham, from Harrietsham in Kent, was jailed for four years and will face a driving ban for a further two upon his release.
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