A 41-year-old former Shropshire man who ploughed into a group of men in his car after an argument in a Broseley pub was jailed this week.
Roy Dietrich was convicted of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to three years in prison for inflicting grievous bodily harm to Lee Pearsall when he drove into him and three friends on the B4375 Broseley High Street on May 23 last year.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court Dietrich, formerly of Telford but who now lives in Nottingham, also admitted two summary matters of driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop after an accident.
He was jailed for three years for causing grievous bodily harm and two years, to run concurrently, for dangerous driving. He was disqualified from driving for four years and no separate penalty was given for the summary matters.
Mr Mark Linkins, prosecuting, said: “Roy Dietrich was convicted following a trial which ran from January 11 to 14 with the end result that he was found guilty of causing Lee Pearsall grievous bodily harm and also for driving dangerously.”
The jury heard Dietrich’s car collided with Mr Pearsall, Steven Perks, Simon Jordan and Jamie Wilmore as they walked home from the Albion Pub where they had earlier had an argument with the defendant.
Mr Pearsall, who could not remember anything about the incident, suffered serious head and arm injuries and spent a long time in intensive care.
“There were very serious injuries to Mr Pearsall, there were also injuries for the other three gentlemen that were in the group that were hit by his car,” added Mr Linkins.
Mr Paul Smith, for Dietrich, said: “Mr Dietrich struggles with the fact that he caused injuries of this level to another person.”
Judge Nicolas Mitchell told Dietrich he should have left the situation when the argument ended.
He said: “You went back home, you got into your motor car at a time when you should never have thought of driving. The report says you had had eight pints and five bottles of lager. You decided to drive back along the street where the pub was with a view to using your car to frighten these men.
“In your drunken state you did frighten them, it resulted in you not only driving near them but driving into them and bowling them over. All this arose out of a small argument. It is totally inexcusable what you did.”
Dietrich had earlier denied that he had deliberately run into the men and was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
