A DISQUALIFIED driver crashed head-on into a pregnant woman who was driving her family home from a festive family gathering last Christmas.

Connor Dennison had only been banned three weeks earlier, when he lost control of his BMW and drove on the wrong side of Melvill Road, careering into the oncoming VW Golf of a couple and their two year-old son.

The incident happened just before 6pm on Christmas Eve.

At Truro Crown Court today, prosecutor Philip Lee said that a witness walking his dog had noticed the BMW going too fast.

Mr Lee said that and as it went past him with the window open, he heard one of the occupants say: "Go on, floor it".

The witness knew a tricky junction into Melvill Road was approaching and shortly after the car had disappeared from his view, he heard a loud impact and called 999.

Mr Lee said that the driver of the Golf had seen the BMW approaching on the wrong side of the road and its movement was erratic. She slowed down but couldn't avoid the inevitable impact.

The woman, who was in the early stages of pregnancy, became trapped in the wreckage and later had to be freed by Emergency Services.

She suffered bruising to her chest and hip and had to have stitches in her knee. She had to wait three or four weeks for a scan to confirm that her unborn child was unharmed.  

Her husband, bleeding from his head, got out of the car and shouted at the two men, who fled the scene. He had to have stitches in his head and suffers ongoing neck pain.

Their two year-old also suffered brusing from the seatbelt and has since suffered "night terrors and anxiety".

At 7.17pm - around an hour and a half after the crash - Dennison, of Newham Road, Truro, called police and informed them that his car had been stolen from his home address.

He told them that he had been woken by his mum at 6pm, but Mr Lee said that his mother was "unable or unwilling" to make a statement to the police at the time. 

Mr Lee added that Dennison, aged 21, had been banned from the roads for 17 months on December 3 after being convicted of drink-driving.

Defending, Mary McCarthy said Dennison ran from the crash scene because he had panicked when he saw the effects of what he had done.

She said he was genuinely remorseful, particularly in respect of the impact it had on the victims.  

Probation office Tony Ciocci explained that Dennison had had an "unsual upbringing" in which he had moved around a lot after his mother had been imprisoned. 

He was also diagnosed with ADHD, but had never taken any formal medication for it. He desribed Dennison as being "emotionally very immature" and prone to "reckless behaviour", perhaps as a result of his mental health condition.

Summing up, Judge Simon Carr said Dennison had got behind the wheel of a car just three weeks after being disqualified.

"Someone in the car said 'floor it' - and you did precisely that. You then get out of the car and run off, leaving others who were not so lucky having to be freed," said Judge Carr.

He added that Dennison clearly has a problem with alcohol, although that was not a factor on the day of the offence.

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving withouth insurance, failing to stop at an accident and failing to report and accident. 

Judge Carr sentenced him to nine months in prison and imposed a two-year driving ban following his release from jail.