Early morning crime-spree around Yarm, including failed ram-raid, lands second man in jail

Scott Gregory, along with his accomplice, Ashley Wardell, used a stolen car in their failed attempt to ram-raid a farm shop before breaking into a garage and stealing a bike.

The 38-year-old then attacked a man walking through Yarm and inflicted a fractured eye socket and, cuts and bruises, as the victim was making his way to work.

Teesside Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of both men taking turns to ram the vehicle into Hutchinson Hobbs farm shop, near Yarm, where they caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the building before giving up and driving away.

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The court had heard how a description of the vehicle was passed to the police and while they were searching for the suspects, the two men continued on their 'crime spree'.

Wardell then stole a bicycle from a locked garage at a property in Yarm in the early hours of August 8 last year.

In victim impact statement, the man said: "During the attack my nose was left bloodied, swollen and blocked. Several months have now passed and my nose remains blocked preventing normal breathing from happening."

Scott Gregory

Gregory, of Pine Tree Grove, Middleton St George, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, driving whilst disqualified, damaging property when he urinated in the rear of police vehicle and inflicting grievous bodily harm.

At an earlier hearing, Adam Walker, mitigating for Gregory, said his client had managed to stay out of trouble for a number of years until he slipped back into his old drug habit following a bereavement.

The defence counsel added: "It was at a time when this defendant was at a very low ebb and not giving any real thought to his actions."

Mr Walker said Gregory was determined to stay off drugs when he was released from prison after cleaning up his act whilst on remand.

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, jailed Gregory for a total of 42 months – two years for the attempted burglary; 18 months consecutive for the GBH; eight months concurrent for aggravated vehicle taking and a further four month concurrent sentence for driving whilst disqualified.

Wardell was jailed for 14 months and banned him from driving for 25 months when he was sentenced last month.