A WOMAN whose drugged-up boyfriend smashed her car into a house at over 50mph, after saying he was going to kill them both, said last night "it's left my life in ruins".

Peter O'Neill was high on alcohol, heroin and glue when he smashed Lauren Potter's VW Golf into the wall of a house in Park Lane, Darlington.

He hit it at speeds of between 50 and 60mph and 22-year-old Miss Potter said: "I really thought I was going to die."

The Northern Echo: JAILED: Peter O'Neill, pictured outside Teesside Crown Court
JAILED: Peter O'Neill, pictured outside Teesside Crown Court

Recalling the day of the crash, in June last year, she added: "He had been out drinking and turned up in a bad temper.

"He was driving pretty fast through Darlington and was yelling at me.

"He said I'd insulted his ex-girlfriend, which was just rubbish, he was just drunk and wanted to fight with me."

Miss Potter, who has been forced to quit her job in childcare as a result of back injuries she suffered in the crash, said O'Neill had forced her to ride as a passenger in her own car.

She was the first member of her family to go to university and secured a job at a nursery after completing her studies, but said long-term partner O'Neill resented her success.

She said: "I was proud of what I had achieved and I was doing well for myself, leaving him and his world behind.

"He hated that and started to get mad about it, he was controlling and I was scared of him.

"On the day of the accident, he made me get into my car and was punching the windows.

"We reached a point just before a narrow bridge and he said he was going to kill us both.

"He pulled the wheel hard and smashed straight into the house.

"The police told me later he was travelling between 50 and 60.

"I thought I was going to die when we were speeding straight for the wall, I can't forget it."

The Northern Echo: DAMAGE: The kitchen of the property in Park Lane, Darlington, after the car driven by Peter O'Neill had crashed into it.
DAMAGE: The kitchen at the property in Park Lane, Darlington, after drunk driver Peter O'Neill crashed into the outside of the house. The kitchen, which was an extension to the house, had to be demolished

The Northern Echo: AFTERMATH: The scene after the VW Golf driven by Peter O'Neill crashed into the house in Park Lane in Darlington.
DAMAGE: Lauren Potter's VW Golf after drunken boyfriend Peter O'Neill crashed it into a house in Park Lane, Darlington

Miss Potter, who is also from Darlington, still needs physiotherapy, as well as taking painkillers and anti-depressants, has not worked since the crash.

She added: "It's left my life in ruins. I was working at a child care centre at the local college and loved my job.

"Now there are days where I can't even stand up straight and I'm scared to leave the house.

"I can't work because it involves lifting and my back was badly injured, in the crash and your back affects your whole body.

"I'm still living with what he did but at least now he's in jail I can stop looking over my shoulder."

O'Neill – who has never passed a driving test – appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday (September 30) and was jailed for four years for the crash and a string of burglaries in North Yorkshire.

The court heard how cowardly O'Neill – of Estoril Road South, Darlington – wiped his fingerprints from the car keys after the crash, then pressed them into Miss Potter's hand before running off.

The occupant of the house and her two young children were in the property at the time of the crash, but were not injured.

O'Neill's co-accused in relation to the burglaries – Darlington men Ben Mills, 23, of Fenby Road, and Harry French, 30, of Geneva Road – were sentenced to 30 months and 32 months respectively.