A DRIVER who abandoned his two seriously injured passengers after a car accident has been jailed.

Graham Leigh, 24, left two friends, Donna Walker and Scott Leather, with "horrific" injuries after the crash on February 27, 1999.

During his trial at Durham Crown Court in March, Leigh claimed he had no memory of driving and said he came round in the back seat of the wreckage. The court had heard how the Honda Accord went out of control on Black Boy Road, Chilton Moor, before hitting the wall of a hump-back bridge.

During the five-day trial, witnesses said they saw a man fitting Leigh's description pulling two passengers from the car before wandering off.

Leigh, of Avenue Vivian, Fence Houses, near Houghton-le-Spring, was due to be sentenced in April but failed to appear. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was brought before Judge Judith Moir, sitting at Newcastle Crown Court, yesterday.

His barrister, John Temple, told the court: "He did not immediately leave the scene, he stayed long enough to render some assistance to the two passengers. If he had a clear recollection of the events and that he was driving, he would have entered a guilty plea but could not recollect what happened.

"He does regret the injuries to the two passengers and that it has also ended their friendships."

Judge Moir jailed Leigh for 21 months, with an additional month to be served for failing to appear in April. He will be disqualified from driving for three years and has been ordered to sit an extended driving test.

Judge Moir said: "This particular offence is a serious offence. It is an offence where, despite what Mr Temple says, you left the scene, leaving your two friends very seriously injured.

"You left, but it is right to say, and I accept, that at the time you left you knew there were other people present so you did not leave them on their own.

"You left the scene in an attempt to avoid responsibility in relation to the occurrence of this accident. The driving involved was an appalling piece of driving, which on your own evidence, took place after you had had something in the region of ten pints over the course of the day."