A BANNED driver who smashed his powerful motorbike into a car containing a mother and her three children has been returned to jail.

Uninsured Jonathan Dunkerton, 28, managed to have his prison sentence suspended after he appealed to the crown court.

But following his release in December he repeatedly failed to comply with probation to the extent the organisation said it could no longer work with him.

Now a judge has given him a seven-week jail term telling him his compliance with the order had been absolutely woeful.

Dunkerton was riding a 600cc motorbike when it smashed into the side of the Vauxhall Zafira people carrier in Lyneham on September 13 last year, causing the airbags to go off inside the vehicle.

The driver had indicated to turn right on the A3102 in Lyneham.

Another vehicle which was going the same way and had just negotiated the junction when the defendant came from the right hand side and struck the turning Zafira.

After checking on the children the mum got out of the car to be told by the motorcyclist she had not been indicating, even though she had.

By the time the police arrived he was lying on the verge by the road and was taken to hospital to be treated for cuts and bruises from the fall.

When he was questioned Dunkerton said he had bought the bike a couple of weeks earlier for £450 and was planning to do it up.

He said he had been riding home to Calne from the centre of Swindon and was unaware that he was banned from the road, although he knew he was uninsured.

But a couple of weeks before the smash he had been charged with disqualified driving, having being stopped in May.

And a less than two weeks before before the accident he was spotted driving by a policeman who knew he was banned.

Dunkerton, of Oak Close, Calne, pleaded guilty to careless driving, two counts of disqualified driving, having no insurance and possessing a small amount of cannabis.

He was originally jailed for 16 weeks by magistrates but that was changed to 10 weeks suspended for 18 months with a thinking skills programme and a three-month curfew.

However he failed to complete the curfew and missed numerous appointments with probation.

Richard Williams, defending, said his client had consistently been in work as a plasterer and breached the curfew after his grandma threw him out.

Ordering Dunkerton’s return to jail, Judge Jason Taylor QC said: “You were given a chance in December when your appeal was allowed.

“You knew you had come close to custody and you were given this lifeline. Sadly you breached your curfew.

“The reality is, the compliance with this order has been absolutely woeful.”