A DRUNKEN unqualified driver used a car "like a lethal weapon", striking a woman standing on a footpath, a court heard.

John Thomas Hardy, 22, was yesterday jailed for three-and-a-half years after a judge told him it was lucky the victim was not killed.

Durham Crown Court heard that the woman was thrown 15ft in the air and banged her head on a lamp-post.

Hardy sped off and the woman spent two days in hospital, suffering abrasions to her left thigh, over her back and elbows, and bruising and swelling to her left knee.

Roger Elsey, prosecuting, said she needed plastic surgery and three weeks later returned to hospital suffering pains in her left leg.

It emerged they were caused after deep vein thrombosis developed as a result of the accident.

Mr Elsey said the incident happened in East Side Avenue, Bearpark, near Durham, in June.

Hardy's Ford Sierra, containing three young passengers, struck a dog, and after he screeched to a halt the pedestrian remonstrated over his driving.

He threatened to punch her, and after being persuaded to get back into the car, drove at her, striking her in the centre of the bonnet. Residents, alerted by the noise, informed police, several recognising Hardy.

Police found him a short time later crying in the kitchen of his next door neighbour's house, in Bracken Court, in the nearby village of Ushaw Moor.

A breath test revealed 61mg of alcohol in his system compared to a legal driving limit of 35.

He admitted having drunk nine or ten cans of lager that day, but claimed he was not drunk.

Mark Giuliani, mitigating, described it as, "a momentary drink-induced loss of control".

Hardy admitted wounding with intent, dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol, failing to stop after an accident, driving other than in accordance with a licence and without insurance.