By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:32, Wednesday, 19 September 2012

A former soldier deliberately crashed his car into a house while his wife and son were inside, following the break-up of his marriage.

Related: Man deliberately crashed car into house, Carlisle court told

Adrian Mounsey, 39, drove his car at the house in Standingstone Heights, Wigton, on June 3 when his marriage collapsed.

His wife, mother-in-law and 10-year-old son were in the front room, which was badly damaged.

It is understood that Mounsey, who claimed he was trying to kill himself, did not injure them.

Mounsey, of Brayton Road, Aspatria, has pleaded guilty to damaging the house while being reckless as to whether people’s lives were endangered.

His not guilty plea to a more serious charge – damaging the house with intent to endanger the lives of the people inside – has been accepted by the prosecution.

Mounsey was expected to be sentenced yesterday but the case had to be adjourned for a month because the Probation Service had not compiled the pre-sentence report into his background.

“It is a very regrettable oversight on their part,” the judge, Recorder Simon Medland QC, said yesterday. “It was made abundantly clear that a pre-sentence report was needed.”

He said that other important documents – including a psychiatric report and testimonials about Mounsey’s Army service – were available and the probation report was the “missing piece of the jigsaw”.

“From every possible angle it is important that justice is dealt with speedily and quickly – from the defendant’s point of view, from the victims’ and from the public’s, and it is a matter of regret that we are not able to do so today,” he said.

Mounsey, who has served more than three months in custody on remand, will now be sentenced on October 15.

He has already been told prison is almost inevitable.

No details of the incident have been given in court, but the charge Mounsey has admitted states that he damaged the property’s front wall as well as fixtures, fittings, furniture and electrical appliances inside the house.

Mounsey, who was of “previously unblemished character”, has also pleaded guilty to carrying a Stanley knife in a public place soon after the crash.

First published at 11:25, Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk