Driver rammed car into bedroom wall

Jan 12 2008 by Graeme Whitfield, The Journal

A DRINK-DRIVER left a scene of devastation when he rammed his car into a couple’s home in the middle of the night as they slept, a court heard yesterday.

Pub licensee Marc Mackay was told by a judge it was miracle that Patricia and Melvyn Hitch escaped unhurt after the car slammed into the bedroom wall of their bungalow in Acomb, Hexham, Northumberland, at 4am.

Mackay, 32, fled the scene, leaving the people carrier embedded in the wall, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

The impact caused extensive structural damage which cost more than £11,000 to put right, said prosecutor Stephen Duffield.

Mackay claimed he had gone to the couple’s home that night because he had been looking for the Hitches’ daughter Lindsey from whom he had recently separated.

“He drove into the cul-de-sac then over a grassed border going down towards the bungalow and simply drove the vehicle into the front wall of the bungalow which was, in fact, the bedroom wall,” said Mr Duffield.

“Mr and Mrs Hitch were asleep. Fortunately the headboard was on the far side of the room and there was a 2ft gap between the bed and the wall.

“Mackay appears to have left the car with the engine still running and in gear so the wheels were still turning and made off. Somehow Mrs Hitch managed to get round the bed and turn the ignition off.”

Mackay, of Chirton Crescent, Hexham, admitted damaging property, dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drink, and an unrelated earlier offence of affray when he head-butted a man during a disturbance in a bar.

The court heard the graduate, who ran the Sun Inn in Acomb, has previous convictions for offences during the 1990s including criminal damage and assault.

He was jailed for a total of three-and-a-half years and disqualified from driving for four years.

Glen Gatland, defending, said Mackay had extreme difficulty in coming to terms with the breakdown of his relationship and began drinking excessively. On the night of the collision, he set off in his car to find his former partner.

“He thought of her parents’ home where she had in the past stayed,” Mr Gatland said. “He accepts he was extremely drunk driving that vehicle. He says he lost control of the car. He drove on to the grass verge.

“Instead of stopping, he slid down the bank. He was horrified by the consequences of what he had done and ran away.”

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Couple relive moment they escaped death

A COUPLE have relived the moment they escaped death by a matter of inches after a car crashed through the front wall of their home and into their bedroom.

Melvyn and Patricia Hitch were sleeping in their bed, in Chapel Close, Acomb, when the people carrier being driven by Marc Mackay crashed through their bungalow wall into their bedroom, hitting their bed.

Mr Hitch said that it was only the angle that the car had hit the house that saved him and his wife from being killed.

Mr Hitch, 69, said: “How we lived I don’t know, we are lucky to be alive.

“There was just a bang and then I saw the headlights at the bottom of the bed, with the car pushing forward as it had been left in gear.” With the car still running, Mrs Hitch climbed out of bed, left the house by the back door because the front door was blocked, leant into the car and turned off the engine.

Mrs Hitch, 57, said that she had struggled to sleep since the incident.

She said: “When you looked at the rubble on the bed you realised how bad it could have been.”

Having crashed through the wall, the car also hit the bed with enough force to force the headboard into the opposite wall, damaging the structure of the house.

The couple, who do not own the house, had to move out for two months as repairs were carried out to their home.