Dad bludgeoned children and drove them into wall
Afather attacked his three young children and stepdaughter with a hammer during a cocaine-induced psychotic episode and then drove them into a wall at 92mph, a court has heard.
A judge heard the four children were left with life-changing injuries by Owen Scott’s actions, with his seven-year-old daughter losing a large part of her skull, leaving her partially paralysed and needing to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Scott, who claims to have no memory of the incident, was arrested after his car crashed into the Travellers Inn at a remote location near Penistone, South Yorkshire, in August.
He was jailed for life at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday after admitting four counts of attempted murder and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. The judge, Mrs Justice O’Farrell, ordered him to serve a minimum of 14 years before he can apply to be released.
She heard that Scott had been a loving father to his children, aged seven, 21 months and nine months, and his stepdaughter, eight, even after the breakdown of his relationship with his former partner.
But in the weeks before the incident he developed paranoia, put down to a temporary psychosis caused by his long-term recreational cocaine and cannabis use.
Prosecutor Simon Keeley QC said Scott became convinced he was being chased by a gang who meant him and his children harm.
Scott, of Heather Road, Fawley, Hampshire, picked up the children – who lived with his ex-partner, Sheryl Rogers, in the Southampton area – and went on a two-day trip around the country, crashing into the pub 230 miles from their home in the early hours of August 23.
Mr Keeley said police had only traced part of Scott’s route but he first went to the Isle of Wight before travelling to Liverpool.
He bought a satnav in Colne, Lancashire, and visited a Burger King in Bury, Greater Manchester, before heading to the Huddersfield area and then into South Yorkshire, where the crash happened on the A629.
A police sergeant who witnessed the collision said uninjured Scott clambered over the seriously injured children after the crash.
Two girls were found on top of each other on the central console of the car, a 21-month-old boy was found in a footwell and his little brother was in a carry-cot, also in a footwell, the judge heard.
“You made no attempt to comfort or assist them or check whether they were injured,” the judge said.
The judge spent 10 minutes listing the “life-threatening and life-changing” injuries suffered by each child, including multiple blows to the head consistent with a hammer found in the car.
Michelle Colborne QC, defending, said her client was a recreational drug user who had been taking cannabis since he was 13 and spent £100 on cocaine at weekends.
She said doctors believe he was suffering a temporary psychotic episode caused by his drug use.