Man needed life-saving op after being mowed down

A WINDOW cleaner was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to mowing down two men and leaving one needing life-saving operations.

William Tooey, 28, struck Danny O’Reilly and Braden Knowles in Rawstorne Street, Clerkenwell, in April as they desperately attempted to cycle away from his car.

CCTV was shown in court of a grey Astra carrying out a three-point turn after spotting the two men on the pavement and chasing them into a one-way street. In their attempt to get away they both climbed on the same bike before losing their balance and falling off.

Sentencing at the Old Bailey, Judge Alexia Durran told Mr Tooey: “I have to sentence you for deliberately driving your car, using it as a weapon with the intention of causing really serious harm to two people. You have offered no explanation for your conduct or what caused you to behave in this out of character way.”

The two victims lay in the road for no more than three seconds, and were “in pain and rolling to get back up,” – according to onlookers whose accounts were read out in court – before they were hit by Mr Tooey’s car and then reversed over.

While Mr Knowles was successful in evading the worst of the impact, Mr O’Reilly “took the full force” and suffered crush injuries to his liver, heart, and lungs as well as multiple broken bones.

He spent a month in hospital and received several life-saving operations before being released to be cared for by family at home.

The court heard he suffers flashbacks of the incident but is expected to “eventually” make a full recovery.

A witness described how Mr Tooey was “fearless” and warned him “don’t try to remember my face or the reg of my car,” according to prosecutor Hugh Forgan.

He then went on the run, shaving off his beard and disposing of the car and his phone in an attempt to evade justice, the Old Bailey was told. When he was held by police and interviewed three weeks later, he initially said ‘no comment’ to all questions before later entering a guilty plea.

Mr Forgan said there were “echoes of organised crime” but Ishan Dave, defending, said there was no evidence Mr Tooey was involved in gang activity and instead said he was a man who was dedicated to his family, including being a full time carer for his mother. He had been out of trouble for 11 years until the incident.

Mr Dave said: “Mr Tooey is capable of great things – being a great son and making sacrifices. He is a supportive father and partner. Not seeing his daughter for some time is a massive wound for him and completely of his own making.

“He wants nothing more than to be a good father and a good partner and fend for his family and a desire to live a very productive life when this is all over. It was one moment of madness as an isolated incident in a life otherwise free of offending.”