A YOUNG motorist mounted a kerb intending to scare a teenager who owed him £200, a court heard.

But he lost control and hit the man, causing him serious injuries, before driving from the scene.

Dean William Young, 24, was jailed for 18 months, after admitting unlawfully wounding the 19-year-old victim, in Seaham, County Durham, at lunch-time on October 10.

Durham Crown Court heard thatYoung was driving along Station Road in a Subaru Impreza, with fiancee Kate Cummings, when he spotted the man on the path.

John Wilkinson, prosecuting, said Young mounted the pavement and struck the man, who was thrown on to the bonnet, hitting the windscreen, before being thrown on to a grass verge bleeding heavily.

Mr Wilkinson said Young drove off, but was followed and cornered by a passing motorist, who blocked the Impreza until police arrived.

When questioned, Cummings claimed they had been arguing and she grabbed Young's arm, causing him to mount the pavement.

But Young eventually confessed that he drove on to the kerb intending to frighten the victim, who suffered serious neck, chest and facial injuries.

Alex Burns, for Young, claimed that when Cummings asked the man to repay an outstanding £200, shortly before the incident, he had laughed.

This angered Young and, on seeing him, decided to give him a fright.

"It wasn't his intention to hit him. It was to scare him. He stupidly mounted the kerb, but lost control," said Mr Burns.

"There's evidence that he tried to brake before impact.

"He initially panicked, but when the other driver blocked him, he made no attempt to go anywhere."

Mr Burns said Young, who previously worked for an injection moulding company, has since moved to Newmarket, in Suffolk, where his parents work at a stud farm.

Jailing him, Judge Michael Cartlidge also ordered Young to pay the victim £6,000 compensation from proceeds from the sale of the car.

Cummings, 19, of Wedgewood Road, Seaham, was ordered to perform 200 hours community punishment work after admitting perverting the course of justice by making the false statement.

The judge commended the passing motorist, a 35-year-old builder, for helping in the arrest.