Ipswich/Stanway: A12 crash driver handed suspended sentence

Lisa Sheldrake, her partner Hassan Yansaneh and their children Keiara and Leona were involved in a horror smash on the A12 in Colchester on Saturday night. They were lucky to escape alive according to the emergency services. Left to right, Leona Yansaneh, Hassan Yansaneh, Lisa Sheldrake, Keiara Yansaneh. Archant

An uninsured driver, who crashed into a family’s car at highspeed on the A12 flipping it on to its roof before fleeing the scene, has walked free from court.

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The family's car wreckage The family's car wreckage

Jack Cornes, of Dale Court, Stanway, was handed a 10-month prison sentence suspended for two years, for dangerous driving at Chelmsford Crown Court last month for the crash.

Lisa Sheldrake was travelling home with her partner Hassan Yansaneh, who was driving, and their children five-year-old Leona and four-year-old Keiara after a day out in London visiting relatives on April 6.

Their Volkswagen Polo car was hit by 22-year-old Cornes’ BMW 318 on the northbound carriageway of the A12 near Stanway.

It overturned and rolled several times before stopping upside down.

Speaking at the time Miss Sheldrake, of Robeck Road, Ipswich, said her partner crawled from the wreckage and pulled them to safety.

She said: “My partner said he saw a car coming up really fast in his mirror and then it began to swerve all over the road.

“When he went to look again it was too late and he heard a massive bang as the car smashed into the back of us.”

The family were treated at Colchester General Hospital for injuries including back and neck pain, cuts and bruises.

Emergency service workers told Miss Sheldrake that it was a miracle the family made it out alive and that they “should have been carried away in boxes”.

Cornes was fined £2,500 for driving without insurance and £500 for driving without an MOT test certificate.

He was also given a supervision order for two years, has to attend the thinking skills programme, carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and has a four month curfew from 7pm to 7am.

He was disqualified from driving for three years and will have to re-take his test.