The man who left a 92-year-old grandmother from Bolton with serious leg injuries after he crashed his BMW into her house has a dark criminal history after being previously jailed for kidnap.
Michael Vose, 39, drove his BMW X6 through Edna Kearns bungalow in White Horse Grove, Westhoughton, during the early hours of the morning on November 28, 2021. His car was completely embedded in the house, and emergency services had to carefully free Ms Kearns from the rubble after she became trapped in her bedroom, sustaining serious leg injuries.
The impact was so loud neighbours thought a "bomb had gone off", with the scale of the damage frightening some of those who lived nearby. Vose was arrested when police arrived at the scene and found him wandering around nearby. Although Ms Kearns was discharged from hospital earlier this year, she tragically passed away at the Royal Bolton Hospital on Friday, April 8.
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Now, the Liverpool Echo has reported that Vose has a dark criminal history, as he was previously jailed for his part in a kidnap plot linked to a drug debt. In 2015, Mold Crown Court heard how Vose, from Merseyside, travelled to Prestatyn in North Wales with a second man to collect a £10,000 debt.
The pair accused a local man of stealing a cannabis crop in Liverpool worth around £10,000. They threatened him, told him to get into the car, and said that they would take him to Liverpool and that his father would have to get the cash. They managed to get the victim inside Vose's Volvo, and then set off for Liverpool.
However, the kidnap victim managed to jump out when the car stopped at lights, and ran into a nearby house where he raised the alarm. Vose and the second man were both arrested when police stopped his Volvo on the A550 Welsh Road on Deeside. Prosecuting barrister Kim Halsall told the court that the victim was clearly threatened.
The victim was told it could go “one of two ways – very good or very bad” and that his father had two days to get the £10,000. He was told he could end up in hospital for a very long time. Both men were found guilty of kidnap and blackmail after a trial, and Vose was jailed for 40 months.
Speaking after the men were jailed Detective Constable Dean Jones said: "This was a very traumatic incident for the victim, and I am satisfied with the sentences imposed. I hope this sends out a message to others that this sort of criminality, which fortunately is rare in north Wales, is totally unacceptable and we will do all we can to bring such individuals to justice and protect our community.”
Vose, of Mount Pleasant Avenue, St Helens, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury through dangerous driving and causing criminal damage to the property. He will also be sentenced for causing actual bodily harm to another woman and damaging her wardrobe and wall. He is set to be sentenced for the horrific crash on July 1 at Bolton Crown Court.
