A DRIVER who was centimetres away from smashing into the front of a Highworth house is lucky to be alive, the homeowner said.

Londoner Bernard Sindano led police on a 90mph chase from Swindon five days before Christmas. But the high speed pursuit came to a dramatic end when the 25-year-old crashed his Ford Fiesta into the 15ft magnolia tree in front of a house on Priory Green.

Michael Stone, a 55-year-old software engineer into whose front garden Sindano crashed, said: “They just went straight over the top of the tree.

“If we hadn’t had a tree there it doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened. There could have been two bodies. He is a lucky boy.”

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Swindon Crown Court heard on Friday that police had been called to an alarm going off at Costcutter, Hobley Drive, on December 20. As they arrived at 11.30pm, they saw a red car pulling away and checks found the number plate did not match the vehicle. Officers failed to stop the car at the Kingsdown crossroads. Sindano then led police on a high-speed chase towards Highworth, at one point accelerating to 90mph in a 40mph zone.

The chase finally ended when Sindano crashed in Mr Stone’s front garden.

He said he was watching television when he heard a loud bang shortly before midnight: “I heard one enormous crash. I jumped up, opened the front door and there was a car pressed up against the bush.

“I’d just turned around to get the phone and dial 999, but I locked up and saw a policeman running up the drive.”

Police detained one of the car’s passengers as he fled in the direction of oncoming officers. A police dog was called in to sniff out driver Sindano, who was cowering in the bushes.

“There were about five or six police cars. The street was lit up with them,” said dad-of-one Mr Stone, who moved to the area 30-years-ago.

A recovery truck removed the car by 2am. But there was nothing the police could do for the magnolia tree. Mr Stone said he now hoped to replace the tree with the same species.

Sindano pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and using false registration plates. He was jailed for 12 months and given a three year driving ban.