A MAN from Gwynedd’s “highly dangerous manoeuvre” while driving caused another motorist to crash into a sea wall and be left trapped in her car.

Kian Owen was told he could have caused “very serious injury or death” to himself or others on the A496 in Barmouth.

Today (November 8), Owen, 22, of Wenallt Uchaf, Dolgellau, was jailed for 16 months at Caernarfon Crown Court (sitting at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court).

He had previously admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop after a road accident, and driving uninsured.

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Prosecutor William Griffin said that, shortly after 9pm on March 13, Rhys Jones and his partner were travelling in a car they had bought that day on a “very narrow” stretch of the road with “sharp bends”.

It was dark, in wet weather, when Mr Jones, the driver, became aware of his vehicle being struck from behind by a Seat vehicle being driven by Owen.

Owen then tried to overtake him, but due to the narrow nature of the road, he “scraped alongside” the exterior of Mr Jones’ car while doing so.

When the Seat tried to pull in front of Mr Jones’ car, its rear bumper hit the front of his vehicle, before Owen continued to drive on.

A driver on the other side of the road, Rachel Carter, approached, and had no time to react to Owen’s overtaking manoeuvre, so crashed into an adjacent sea wall and was left stuck in her car.

Owen continued driving for a short distance before stopping, after which he and his passenger ran away.

Enquiries ascertained that Owen had bought the Seat not long ago, and was not insured to drive it – he was arrested on his way to Birmingham, and his DNA was found on the car’s airbag

Defending Owen, who had six previous convictions for 10 offences, Richard Edwards said his client “knows he shouldn’t have been driving” and has remorse for his actions.

Mr Edwards said Owen was driving to Barmouth in order to sell the Seat, as he wanted money to give some of it to his mother in Birmingham, who “couldn’t even afford a bus fare”.

Owen fled the scene with his passenger, Mr Edwards said, because he simply “panicked”.

He works as a roofer with his father, who supported him in court today, and who Mr Edwards said “relies heavily” on him at work.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Jones said Owen’s offending was too serious for immediate custody to be avoided.

She told him: “Quite frankly, you could have caused very serious injury or death to any of those road users, yourself, or your passenger.

“It was obvious that overtaking there was a highly dangerous manoeuvre.

“Do not let this sentence crush you.”

Owen was disqualified from driving for 20 months from his release from prison, and must then pass an extended re-test before being allowed back on the roads.

The Seat vehicle he drove was ordered to be forfeited.