A YOUNG motorist who left a scooter rider with life changing injuries has walked free from court after being dealt with by a £250 fine.

21-year-old Luke Hughes had correctly suspected that the rider was on a stolen machine and decided to pursue him but ended up crashing into him.

The rider, Connor Carr, now aged 20, was flung from the scooter after he ploughed into a wall following the collision and he spent three weeks in a coma after suffering a fractured skull and sub-arachnoid haemorrhage.

Hughes, an apprentice electrician, who fled after the crash and abandoned his damaged BMW, had been due to stand trial today (Wed) facing a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving which he denied.

But his plea to the lesser charge of careless driving was accepted by the prosecution.

Sentencing him Judge David Aubrey, QC, said that had he been convicted of the more serious charge “you would have received an immediate custodial sentence.

“In my view the CPS have correctly accepted a plea to driving without due care and attention.”

He pointed out that the maximum sentence for that offence is a financial penalty.

“The law does not permit me to take into account or assess the extent of unfortunate injuries sustained.

“No one must every consider or perceive that the inevitable financial penalty the court imposes can equate to the injury sustained.”

As well as the fine the judge ordered him to pay £250 prosecution costs plus £30 statutory surcharge and added six penalty points to his driving licence.

Judge Aubrey told Hughes, of Coltswold Road, Prenton, “Your victim was riding a motor cycle. It was a stolen vehicle and you had made the decision to pursue that cycle.

“It was at the time an unwise decision and, of course in hindsight, this court has no doubt you also perceive it to have been an unwise decision.”

He added, “The extent of his permanent injury may to some extent be in dispute but there is in my judgement not doubt that he sustained life changing injuries.”

Claire Jones, prosecuting, had told Liverpool Crown Court that the incident happened at about 10 pm on November 4 last year in Christchurch Road, Oxton, in drizzly weather.

Hughes was driving his BMW 3 series behind the motor scooter which he rightly believed was a stolen vehicle.

The rider Mr Carr realised he was being pursued and kept turning his head to look back.

In Christchurch Road the rider decelerated and abruptly turned right at a junction and Hughes’ car rammed the back of the machine causing it to go to the right and hit a wall.

Mr Carr was left lying in the road and Hughes drove off and abandoned the BMW, with the engine running, about two and a half miles away at Storeton Woods, said Miss Jones.

Police officers went to the scene of the crash and found pieces from the front of the BMW and shortly afterwards they received details of the abandoned vehicle and discovered the damage matched.

They went to Hughes’ home where he calmly admitted having pursued the scooter and accepted he had not left sufficient distance between the two vehicles given the adverse weather conditions.

Meanwhile Mr Carr, a disqualified driver, was taken to hospital where he remained in a coma for three weeks and was kept in hospital for a further three weeks.

Neil Gunn, defending, said that Hughes has no previous convictions and no penalty points on his licence, which he needs for his job.

He lives at home with his dad and references included one from his employer.