Danger driver who injured South Elmsall tot jailed

Little JJ Michalowski, then 23-months-old, suffered life-changing injuries after unlicensed driver Daniel Thrower ploughed into his family’s car on the A628 Hemsworth bypass.

Leeds Crown Court heard how JJ’s dad Igor and two older sisters were also injured during the crash on March 8 this year.

Thrower, 34, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, failing to give a blood sample after the crash, having no appropriate licence and no insurance.

The court heard how Thrower, of Shakespeare Avenue, Doncaster, had taken his girlfriend’s car without permission after earlier drinking four bottles of lager.

Richard Davies, mitigating, said his client had been knocked unconscious by the crash and couldn’t really remember what had happened.

But the solicitor said Thrower was appalled and devastated by what he had done.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC, passing sentence, said: “I want to emphasise the sentence I pass on you cannot and is not intended to be a measure of the devastation and misery which you have brought to JJ and his family.

“No sentence however long would ever be a measure of a person’s quality of life.”

Thrower was banned from driving for five years.

For a full report of this case please see this Thursday’s Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express.