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A motorist crashed a vehicle at high speed before fleeing the scene and leaving his unconscious passenger with a broken neck and a bleeding brain.

Marcus Emsley, who had only just got his licence back after a drug-drive ban, flipped his pal’s Ford Focus in Holbeck and then went on the run for five days before eventually handing himself into police. His passenger suffered life-changing injuries including multiple fractures to his skull, eye socket and neck, as well as internal bleeding.

The judge at Leeds Crown Court, Recorder Dafydd Enoch QC said the man was “lucky he did not die” and “his life has changed forever”, before jailing Emsley for three years.

Prosecutor Lily Wildman said the 21-year-old joiner was drinking with two friends in the Dragon Hotel on Whitehall Road on the evening of April 15 last year. Emsley then asked to drive the car. A witness said he was driving beyond the speed limit before he lost control, failed to negotiate a bend at the Dragon Bridge near the pub and struck a barrier, rolling the car onto its roof.

Emsley was jailed for three years for seriously injuring his friend on Dragon Bridge.

But rather than stay to help, Emsley ran off and hid for days before handing himself into Elland Road Police Station. He initially gave a no-comment interview, but during a second interview in October admitted he was behind the wheel. He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury through dangerous driving.

Mitigating, Erin Kitson-Parker said: “He is lucky that nobody died, including himself. He is really sorry for what he has done and knows he has changed the victim’s life forever. He has made the biggest mistake of his life.”

Miss Kitson-Parker told the court that Emsley was remorseful, but was interrupted by Recorder Enoch who said: “He tried to avoid responsibility in the worst kind of way. If he had stood up like a man, that would be one thing but he ran away. Remorse? I do not buy it.”

Addressing Emsley, Recorder Enoch said: “He received incredibly serious injuries and changed his life forever. You have to live with that. He was as seriously injured he could have been without dying. You ran away for five whole days. It was obvious you were going to be found out.”

He banned Emsley, of Kirkdale Mount, Farnley, from driving for five years.

Joiner fled crashed Ford Focus in Leeds and left unconscious passenger with a broken neck