Woman jailed after Tesco car-park injury

18 March 2019, 19:24 | Updated: 18 March 2019, 19:28

A woman who broke a Tesco worker's back when she drove into her in a bid to escape after trying to steal from the supermarket has been jailed.

Lucy Turner, 32, tried to flee in a blue Citroen C3 as shoppers and an employee, a woman in her 20s, "bravely" tried to stop her, police said.

Footage of the incident in a Tesco car park in Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire, on December 23 last year was widely shared online at the time.

Hertfordshire Police said Turner drove "erratically" in her attempt to escape and ran over the supermarket worker, who broke her back and has not yet been able to return to work.

Turner, of Haggerston Road, Borehamwood, who was already disqualified from driving and does not hold a licence, was sentenced to 38 months in prison and banned from driving for four and a half years after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court.

Senior Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) district crown prosecutor Peter Burt said: "Lucy Turner saw that the car park was full of people doing their Christmas shopping, and yet she drove extremely dangerously with a clear disregard for the safety of others.

"As a result, an innocent person who was among those trying to stop her getting away suffered serious injuries, injuries from which she has still not recovered."

Turner also admitted attempted theft from Tesco, driving whilst disqualified, using a motor vehicle without third party insurance, being the driver of a vehicle that failed to stop after an accident, and failing to report the accident, as well as thefts at two other supermarkets.

Detectives identified Turner by analysing CCTV stills and found her DNA on the car's airbag and other items, after the vehicle was found in Watford the day after the incident.

Detective Constable Rob King, from Hertfordshire Police, said:

"The fact this incident happened the last weekend prior to Christmas meant the supermarket car park was even busier than usual.

Turner showed complete disregard for the shoppers' safety and only thought about herself when she chose to drive that car in such a dangerous manner.

The victim bravely tried to intervene but Turner callously used the vehicle as a weapon, causing the victim to fall to the ground and suffer a serious injury to her back.

Distressing footage of the incident was shared on social media at the time of the incident and the local community showed great concern for the victim.

I am pleased with today's sentence and I hope it begins to give the victim and her family some closure, enabling them to move forward with their lives."