A TEENAGE hit-and-run driver who badly injured a farmer, escaped suitable punishment because the law was too soft, accoring to the senior judge who sentenced him yesterday.

Christopher Skeet, 19, was racing over farmland in a friend's car when farmers tried to stop him.

He sped off crushing father-of-two Michael Thompson, 38, under his wheels - breaking his right leg in two places and smashing his left ankle.

Another teenage driver illegally using the land near Castle Eden Walkway gave Skeet's name to police, but Skeet denied being behind the wheel.

Mr Thompson underwent a seven-hour operation at the University Hospital of Hartlepool and had three more major operations before doctors managed to save his foot. He is now confined to a wheelchair. His wife, Patricia, has to run their farm, said Gillian Batts, prosecuting.

Skeet was said to be devastated by the consequences of driving his friend's Ford Mondeo on the night of April 30.

His barrister Robin Denny told Teesside Crown Court: "He is genuinely full of remorse."

Judge Fox told Skeet: "Were I not so bound I have to say I would wish to pass a sentence which was considerably greater than that which I must because of the law's restraint on me.".

Skeet, of Ark Royal Close, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, was sent to a young offenders institution for 12 months and disqualified from driving for five years.

He admitted causing actual bodily harm, inflicting grievous bodily harm, and driving without a licence and insurance.