A 23-YEAR-old driver who destroyed the front of a pregnant woman’s house while she sat in the front room escaped jail yesterday.

Ryan Almond crashed his black Vauxhall Astra into the front of Ludivine Parmentier’s house in Mill Street, Wantage, at 12.30pm on Valentine’s Day in February.

The car bounced off a sofa in the front room and spun round across the road, ending up facing the other way.

At the time of the crash Almond was awaiting sentencing for two previous counts of speeding in November, it emerged at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Ms Parmentier, 37, who is now a full-time mum looking after her seven-month old daughter, is still waiting for her home to be repaired.

Dressed in jeans and a sports jacket, Almond, of Hamfield, Wantage, sat in court with his eyes closed yesterday as he listened to victim impact statements.

His mother, whom he lives with, looked on.

His defence solicitor admitted speed had been the main factor in the crash but could not provide an explanation for it.

Sentencing him, District Judge Tim Pattinson said: “This is a very serious matter involving grossly excessive speed. Quite frankly it’s no thanks to you that there wasn’t a death involved.

“Make no mistake, if the circumstances had been different you would not be going home tonight, you would have been going to prison.”

Instead, he gave Almond a three-month curfew between 8am and 8pm to be electronically monitored, ordered him to do 180 hours’ unpaid work and banned him from driving for 18 months.

For the two speeding charges he ordered Almond to pay two £100 fines, a £60 victims’ surcharge and £85 costs.

The judge said he did not order compensation because there are ongoing civil proceedings against Almond.

Ms Parmentier told the Oxford Mail Almond had made no attempt to apologise to her directly.

She said: “It was a horrific accident, he could have killed someone and he has made no attempt to contact me or apologise, which just shows complete lack of respect for me, the passers-by he could have hurt and himself.”

Ms Parmentier, who was eight months pregnant at the time of the accident, recalled: “I was sat at the table doing some paperwork then it was like an explosion – he came crashing in, it was terrifying.

“I was literally two metres away, the car came in and bounced back out again after hitting a sofa, which came flying in with the rest of the debris.”

She ducked down to avoid the debris flying towards her and ended up cracking a bone.

She said: “I was trying to protect my belly, I didn’t know what was going on so I crouched down onto the floor and cracked my coccyx.”

The front of the house was destroyed and a house next door was damaged as well.

Ms Parmentier immediately had to move out and said her insurance company paid for her to stay in a hotel for the first three weeks.

She is now living in another house in Wantage and said the costs of repairing the old house have been “phenomenal”.

Oxfordshire County Council carried out a speed survey in Mill Street in March and found 85 per cent of vehicles were moving at 25mph or below. The speed limit is 30mph.

County councillor for Wantage Jenny Hannaby said she wanted more safety measures there.