Hit-and-run Audi driver ran down dog walker on pedestrian crossing before crashing and fleeing to Leeds pub

The woman had been walking her two dogs and was in the middle of pedestrian crossing in Crossgates when Jamie Rook smashed into her, throwing her into the air. She suffered a broken jaw and two broken teeth. One of her dogs required treatment, while the other ran off and was not located for another 15 hours.

Appearing at Leeds Crown Court this week, Rook admitted causing serious injury through dangerous driving and and aggravated vehicle taking while causing injury.

Prosecutor Thomas Doyle said Rook had been in the New Travellers Rest in Crossgates with his uncle shortly before 10pm on November 25, 2022. When his uncle went to the toilet, Rook took the keys to the high-powered Audi A3 from his uncle’s coat pocket and took off from the pub car park, despite having no licence or insurance.

He drove along Crossgates Road for around 100 metres, then U-turned and came back, striking the woman. He lost control of the car and smashed into the safety barriers on the roundabout, causing the airbags to be deployed. The 23-year-old then got out and ran back to the pub, telling his uncle what had happened. But Rook only handed himself into the police station the next day, and attended a voluntary interview three months later, where he gave no comments.

In a victim impact statement read out by Mr Doyle, the woman said she required surgery and was unable to eat solid food for months after the crash, causing her to lose eight kilos in weight. She also has to have one of her teeth removed at her own cost. She struggles to sleep but suffers recurring nightmares when she does.

Quoting her directly, Mr Doyle said: “I have to take my dogs for a walk but there’s a constant fear something will happen to us.”

Mitigating for Rook, Ian Hudson said: “He left the pub to go to the cash machine to withdraw cash for the gaming machine in the pub. He could have walked the distance. He wishes he could turn back time but he can’t. He panicked and went back the pub.”

He said that Rook, of Cautley Road, Cross Green, was “very fearful” of going to prison and had his own personal health problems, having sustained a serious leg injury in Christmas Day due to a fall at home. He was in hospital for five days and needed surgery to insert 15 pins into his leg. He needs to wear a leg brace for the next six months.

Judge Neil Clark told Rook: “You made no attempt to stop and drove straight into her. You did not stay at the scene when she would have been requiring help.”

He gave Rook 21 months’ jail, suspended for two years, 25 rehabilitation days, and ordered he pay £100 compensation to the woman to at least cover the vets bill for the injured dog. He has no other savings and does not work, the court heard.

Rook was also banned from driving for four years and told he must take and extended re-test.