A DRUGGED up van driver who deliberately smashed into two mopeds being ridden by teenagers without helmets has been jailed for two years and seven months.

Liam Phillips, who was also banned from the road, left one of the 16-year-olds seriously injured after he took the law into his own hands in the terrifying incident.

And after his passenger got out and moved the stricken bike, and according to one witness its rider, the 18-year-old sped away from the scene. Meanwhile the young victim, who thought he was going to die, had suffered a serious neck injury.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the lad was riding one moped and two mates were on another, on March 29 last year. Just after 6pm they pulled out of the Esso garage on Dorcan Way heading towards Greenbridge when a Citroen Berlingo coming the other way ploughed into them.

She said the white van deliberately steered across the road, hitting the machine ridden by the16-year-old, sending it skittling into the other bike. The victim, who did not own the moped, was trapped, with blood pouring from his mouth as a result of the impact.

He was taken to the Great Western Hospital and then to hospital in Bristol where he underwent an operation on his ruptured throat.

Miss Hingston said he was nil by mouth for five days, took two months to recover, and was left with a six inch scar from his mouth to his ear. In a victim personal statement he said he thought he was going to die more than once that night and has a permanent reminder from the scar.

He said "I have had to live with what they did to me every day since. I am emotionally and mentally scarred." His mother said his hearing had been damaged and he had post traumatic stress disorder.

Phillips, of Ruskin Avenue, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The court heard he had numerous previous convictions including two for dangerous driving when he led police on chases. Passenger Finley Rose, 19, of Meadowcroft, Stratton, admitted assisting an offender by moving the bike.

Andrew Stone, for Phillips, said he accepted he was facing jail for what he had done. At the time he had taken diazepam for the first time and had a cloudy memory, but had not set out to crash into them or cause any harm.

"He certainly didn't set out to injure them, the aim was to stop them and remonstrate with them," he said. Tony Bignall, for Rose, said his client had played a lesser role in the incident and had only moved the bike and not the rider, so they could drive away.

Jailing Philips and disqualifying him for three years, Judge Robert Pawson said "You did something staggeringly stupid: you took the law into your own hands. At the time you had taken diazepam so you have got no memory really.

"You were deliberately driving towards three people on mopeds, none of whom were wearing helmets." Rose was given four months suspended for a year, with 60 hours of unpaid work.

The judge pointed out Rose had been threatened by his co-defendant's family.