A member of a Screwfix burglary gang put a pensioner in hospital when he crashed his getaway van into the 76-year-old’s Vauxhall as he fled from police.

Craig Ballantyne, 33, was the only member of the gang to be caught.

Police had disturbed the burglars following a report of a break-in at the Screwfix store in Pony Road, Cowley, at around 11.30pm on October 24 last year.

Prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes told Oxford Crown Court this week that a number of men got into a VW Golf and successfully shook off the police.

READ MORE: Dangerous driver crashed van with £13k of Screwfix tools in the back

Ballantyne jumped into a Ford Transit and made off. As he was pursued by the police, he hit 70mph in a residential 30 zone and drove on the wrong-side of the road.

On Henley Avenue, Iffley, he attempted to overtake a Vauxhall Aquila at speed. But the Transit hit the back of the car, sending both vehicles spinning and causing the van to ‘wipe out’ a bus shelter, Ms Foulkes said.

Among the injuries suffered by the 76-year-old driver of the Vauxhall were a broken collarbone and bruising.

In the back of Ballantyne’s van, the police found almost £13,000-worth of power tools that had just been stolen from Screwfix.

Interviewed by the police the following day, Ballantyne, of no fixed address, answered no comment to all questions put to him.

However, he pleaded guilty to burglary, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without insurance and failing to provide a specimen for analysis when he later appeared before the Oxford magistrates.

Judge Ian Pringle QC adjourned sentencing late last year to give the career criminal, who began taking heroin at 16 or 17, the chance to be assessed by charity Turning Point to see if he was suitable for a gruelling residential rehab programme as a direct alternative to prison.

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Andy Burford from Turning Point told the judge on Tuesday, when Ballantyne returned to court for sentencing, that the defendant was ‘very focussed and determined to make sure he takes up this opportunity which he sees as literally a once in a lifetime chance’.

The judge said: “He’s had 15 years of almost persistent offending involving dishonesty, stealing and the like, and on this particular occasion of course he managed not only to commit further offending but injured an elderly man without any reason at all.

“Fortunately, it seems the injuries weren’t as serious as they might have been.”

He told Ballantyne’s barrister, Alice Aubrey-Fletcher: “I am going to give your client a chance. As Mr Burford says, I hope he sees it is a one-off chance. This is the time, at the age of 33, to turn his life around.”

Oxford Mail:

Ballantyne received a three year community order. He will spend the next 12 weeks in a residential rehabilitation facility before living ‘as directed’ by the probation service. He was banned from driving for three years and seven months.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward