An Okehampton woman who lied to police to cover up for her hit and run boyfriend after he mowed down a pedestrian has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Lynda Lucas, 33, told police that she was the driver of the BMW which mounted a pavement and hit a pedestrian in a street in Paignton.

In fact, though, it was her boyfriend Lewis McKenzie who deliberately drove onto a pavement and mowed down a pedestrian in an attack for which he has been jailed for five years.

Driver McKenzie crossed onto the wrong side of the road so he could drive his BMW car onto the raised pavement in Paignton before hitting the victim at just under 30mph. He was trying to injure another man who was walking inside victim Nathan Gutierrez but hit the wrong target and sent him flying into the air for several feet.

He suffered a punctured lung, fractures to his ribs, shoulder and back, and was so seriously injured that he could not pick up or play with his young child for weeks after the crash.

The impact shattered the windscreen on the driver’s side but McKenzie drove off at high speed, narrowly missing other cars, and tried to cover up his crime.

He dumped the car at a farm in Aish, near Stoke Gabriel, and got his pregnant girlfriend Lucas to help him escape to Manchester, where police found him ten days later.

She tried to derail the police investigation by claiming she had been the driver and had lost control of the car during an argument with McKenzie.

Police had already established who was driving from eyewitnesses and were not fooled by her lies.

McKenzie, aged 25, of Queen Elizabeth Drive, Paignton, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for five years and banned from driving for ten years after his release by Judge William Mousley, QC, at Exeter Crown Court.

Lucas, of Otter Close, Okehampton, admitted assisting an offender and was jailed for six months, suspended for 18 months and curfewed for four months.

The judge told McKenzie: ’You drove at a speed of about 30 mph deliberately across the road and deliberately into someone.

’You used the car as a highly dangerous weapon. The sentence must be increased because of the dangerous driving after the incident and the actions taken to avoid detection. Your action was targeted, although the person you injured was not actually the target.’

Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said McKenzie had a grudge against Mr Gutierrez’s cousin, who was walking beside him and was the intended victim of the attack.

He mowed Mr Gutierrez down from behind while the car was half on the pavement and half on the road after spotting the pair as they walked on Foxhole Road, Paignton at around 11.30am on March 2 this year.

He drove away at high speed even though he could see almost nothing through his shattered windscreen and he and Lucas then hid the car. He was arrested in Manchester ten days later.

Accident investigators estimated the speed of impact at 29mph and although Lucas claimed she was driving, police rejected her statement as ’a blatant lie’.

Mr Pawson-Pounds, for McKenzie, said he has no record of violence and the offence was totally out of character.

He said it was impulsive and happened when he was driving Lucas back from a midwife’s appointment.

A psychological report diagnosed him as having autism, ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder as a result of a troubled childhood. He was also abusing steroids at the time.

Mr Simon Burns, for Lucas, said she acted out of love and misplaced loyalty for McKenzie, who is the father of her 12-week-old child.

He said she would lose the chance to bond with the baby if sent straight to jail and would also lose contact with her five older children, who are all being raised by their grandparents.