'Cowardly' Leeds car criminal left woman with devastating injuries after causing head-on horror smash in stolen Mercedes during police chase

A criminal left a married couple with life-changing injuries after causing a horror crash during a high-speed police chase in a stolen car.
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Lee Brook was jailed for five years and four months by a judge who described the incident in Leeds as "staggeringly dangerous".

Leeds Crown Court heard the female victim suffered multiple injuries in the collision on the A650 Drighlington Bypass.

She now has to walk with the aid of a stick.

Lee Brook was jailed for five years and four months for seriously injuring a couple after causing a head-on crash in a stolen Mercedes on the A650 Drighlington Bypass.Lee Brook was jailed for five years and four months for seriously injuring a couple after causing a head-on crash in a stolen Mercedes on the A650 Drighlington Bypass.
Lee Brook was jailed for five years and four months for seriously injuring a couple after causing a head-on crash in a stolen Mercedes on the A650 Drighlington Bypass.
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Her husband was also badly hurt in the incident on October 18, 2019.

Judge Simon Batiste told 44-year-old Brook: "The effects are very significant. You have, by your actions, in short, wrecked her life."

Phillip Standfast, prosecuting, said Brook was driving a Mercedes worth £31,000 which had been stolen two days earlier during a burglary at a house in Ackworth.

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Officers saw Brook driving the vehicle on Gelderd Road towards Heckmondwike when they began following the vehicle.

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Brook failed to pull over and sped off, reaching 95mph in a 40mph zone.

He went through red lights, drove on the wrong side of the road and went the wrong way on a roundabout.

Brook then crashed head-on into the victims' Peugeot on the A650.

He ran from the scene, leaving the couple badly injured.

Emergency services had to cut the woman from the wreckage of the crash.

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Brook, of Royal Court, Hunslet, Leeds, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, handling stolen goods and failing to stop.

He has previous convictions for dangerous driving, vehicle theft and driving while disqualified dating back to when he was a youth.

Brook appeared in court via a video link from prison.

Shila Whitehead, mitigating, said Brook accepted he would be facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Judge Batiste described Brook as a "coward" for running from the scene despite knowing the victims were injured.

He said: "This is a prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of very bad driving.

"This is as bad a case as it is possible to find."