A FAMILY has spoken of the shattering aftermath left by a car ploughing into their living room and bursting into flames.

This week James Andrew Sparham, 29, of Huntington, York, was jailed for five years after he crashed into the side of the Garnetts’ Rawcliffe home and “devastated” their lives.

Following the sentencing at York Crown Court on Monday, the family spoke of the life-long injures and mental anguish left by the incident.

The couple, David and Claire, were watching television in the early hours of September 3 and their youngest son was asleep upstairs when Sparham’s car ploughed through their wall.

Mrs Garnett had just gone into the kitchen when there was what Mr Garnett described as ‘the sound of a bomb going off’.

Mrs Garnett rushed back into the lounge where her husband was buried under rubble on the sofa at the far side of the car.

In a statement released via North Yorkshire Police, the couple described how Mrs Garnett climbed over the burning car and cleared rubble off Mr Garnett, before pulling him over the burning car, all the while terrified it would explode.

She managed to drag her husband out of the house before the car burst into flames.

Mr Garnett, 54, sustained multiple injuries including loss of vision in his right eye, extreme lower limb injuries requiring extensive skin grafts, a broken nose and lacerations.

He required six-weeks' hospitalisation at the Leeds Major Trauma unit and York Hospital, and a gruelling period of treatment is still ongoing.

Mr Garnett’s injuries will be life-long and the couple have both have suffered severe post traumatic stress.

They said: “The one place anyone should always be able to feel safe is within the four walls of your own home.”

They were both enjoying life to the full looking forward to the future but this devastating incident has brought serious injury, hardship, uncertainty, anxiety and depression.

They said their lives have been shattered.

The family wishes to thank North Yorkshire Police, ambulance and fire department for their prompt response and also to family, neighbours, friends and the community for their tremendous support.

Thanks extend to the medical professionals both in Leeds and York hospitals and to York school and college for support to their children.

During police interviews after the incident, Sparham largely made no comment.

However, he pleaded guilty to three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and criminal damage at court.

In addition to the jail term, he was banned from driving for seven-and-a-half years and will have to sit an extended driving test before he is allowed back on the roads.