A MOTHER who was mown down in a hit-and-run incident has spoken of her relief after the driver was sent to jail.

Deborah Towey, of Selborne Walk, Tadley was knocked down by a car in Church Lane, Mort-imer West End, on August 23 last year as she and her partner Christopher Liebisch walked back from The Red Lion pub with their dog.

Mrs Towey (pictured) suffered a broken leg, shattered hand and extensive cuts and bruises. She had to be taken by air ambulance to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, where she spent three nights.

The driver, Jamie Lawson, of Lesford Road, Reading, was this week sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for unlawful wounding and other offences.

Mrs Towey, 46, said: "I am glad he received a custodial sentence. Hopefully it's long enough for him to think about what he's done, and to never do the same thing to anyone else."

Mrs Towey, who has a son Luke, 17, told The Gazette that she had been unable to drive for nine weeks after the incident and had been forced to take three mon-ths off unpaid from her sales job for Cadbury's to recover from her various injuries.

She said: "The financial aspect was an added worry. I couldn't do anything about it. I had to get better, but the financial worry didn't help."

Mrs Towey is still receiving treatment for her injuries. She said: "I am making good progress but I'm not fully healed.

"Sometimes I walk with a limp as my muscles go tight when walking or driving any distance. I'm still having physiotherapy, but I don't know what the final outcome will be.

"I still don't like walking along country lanes. I try to avoid it at all costs now. I take my walks off the road, and I am still nervous in a car, as a passenger and a driver.

"Fortunately I have had lots of support from family and friends, and now I am just looking forward to a better year this year."

Passing sentence at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Michael Brodrick said it was unclear whether Lawson, 19, had deliberately driven at Mrs Towey, whether he had been seeking to drive as close as possible in order to terrify her and her partner, or whether it had simply been a prolonged period of inattention.

The judge added: "All the indications here are of a vehicle gradually moving closer and closer to the verge. That suggests a deliberate attempt at the very least to scare this woman."

Jonathan Turner, defending Lawson who has a number of previous convictions involving car offences, said he stole items from vehicles to fund his heroin habit. He said the defendant was looking in the glove box for items as he drove, and the car had pulled to the left and hit Mrs Towey.

Lawson was appearing for sentence after admitting unlawful wounding, aggravated vehicle taking, the taking of another car earlier that day, the theft of a wallet and obtaining property by deception, using a credit card from the stolen wallet.

He was given two years detention for the unlawful wounding, another consecutive year for the aggravated vehicle taking, a further six months for the other offences and was disqualified from driving for four years. Two other men are to be sentenced on February 6 for their parts in the hit-and-run incident.

Detective Constable Ben Chivers, of Basingstoke CID, said: "Although stealing cars might seem like a laugh, we take it seriously and this incident highlights what can go wrong.

"Three-and-a-half years in prison is much more than you would usually expect for stealing a car. Because the car hit someone the penalty became much higher."