Woman left with broken spine as puppy thief kills dog in drug-fuelled car crash
A puppy thief killed a stolen cocker spaniel and broke a woman’s spine and legs in a crash as he tried to evade police.
Danny Frankham, 31, snatched five cocker spaniel puppies and their mother from a barn near Canterbury in Kent before he made his getaway by car.
His erratic driving soon grabbed the attention of a police patrol car, which activated blue lights, prompting him to speed off into a residential 30mph zone.
Nicole Hambelton was driving in the opposite direction when she saw Frankham’s vehicle drifting head-on towards her “like a race car”.
When Frankham, who tested positive for cannabis, lost control, he crashed head on with Ms Hambelton’s white Vauxhall Corsa.
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The young woman sustained life-changing injuries, including fractures to her spine and legs, dashing her hopes of becoming a police officer.
Nicole Hambelton in the hospital after she was hit by Farnkam’s car (Nicole Hambelton / SWNS)
Nicole Hambelton walking on crutches after she was hit by Frankham’s car (Nicole Hambelton / SWNS)Ms Hambleton, 24, was bedridden for three months and had to learn to walk again following a painstaking nine-hour operation.
By June 2021 her legs were still too weak to walk her dog and, after numerous medical appointments, she can now only manage short distances.
Supported by her mother in court, Ms Hambleton, who is from Manston, Kent, said: “I still have to look in the mirror every day and see my scars.
She explained how she is only able to stand for short periods as her mobility remains “severely restricted”.
Describing her anguish while not being able to join friends on nights out she said: “[The crash] hugely affected my social life and will do for the rest of my life.
“I always wanted to be a police officer but have now accepted I will not be fit enough to do this.
“My recovery made me feel like I was a child again, where my mum became my full-time carer while I was bed-bound for three months.
“As a young woman that felt embarrassing - I lost part of my life I won’t get back.
“Learning to walk again was the hardest, most challenging experience I’ve faced, and not being able to socialise like a normal 22-year-old was mentally hard.
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“My frustration and anger towards the world following the crash eventually led me into counselling.”
Frankham had previously pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and burglary at Canterbury Crown Court (PA)Frankham and an accomplice had driven his Subaru Legacy to a stable in Broad Oak, near Canterbury.
The duo snuck into an unlocked barn and snatched a litter of five puppies and their mother to ensure they could be fed milk.
The pair bundled the cocker spaniels, worth about £1,300 each, into Frankham’s car.
Following the crash, Frankham’s Subaru careered into trees and came to a rest at a riverbank.
He and his accomplice waded through the river and split up, with Frankham hiding in a fisherman’s tent after discarding his wet clothes.
But a police dog soon traced Frankham, who had sustained cuts and swelling. He was taken to a hospital under police escort.
Laurence Imrie, prosecuting, said: “On that left-hand bend the driver of the Subaru lost control, slid across the carriageway and collided head-on with a white Vauxhall Corsa which had been travelling in the opposite direction.
“Miss Hambelton, the sole occupant of the Vauxhall Corsa describes the car driving on her side of the road, that it was going so fast it looked like it was doing 100mph and she could see it was drifting like a racing car would on a racetrack, with the back of the car already on the pavement.
“She had no time to react or brake and the car hit her head on - she says that she shut her eyes and the car was spinning around.
“One of the dogs had to be put down and another was never recovered.”
Piers Walter, who represented Frankham, said he suffered a fractured ankle during the crash and had since been working collecting scrap metal to help finance his children.
Mr Walter stressed Frankham pleaded guilty on the day of trial and claimed he didn’t see the police’s blue lights. He wished to apologise “for the accident”.
In a letter Frankham wrote, he said he was “so sorry” and “I’m ashamed of my behaviour”.
Ms Hambleton said she cried in court because she knew he was only apologising to get a lighter sentence.
She said: "He complained in the hearing about his own injuries, his own mental health struggles, how he wouldn’t be able to see his kids if he was locked up.
"He tried placing blame onto the passenger of his vehicle - he fled the scene of the crime knowing full well I had been seriously injured.
“I cried when his apology letter was read out in court.
“I wasn’t crying because it upset me. I cried because I knew full well his intentions of writing it was to try and get a lower sentence, not because he was actually sorry.
“He didn’t have any remorse for what he did to me.”
Mr Walter argued Frankham was not trying to avoid the police at the time his car accelerated. However, the judge, Recorder Amy Nicholson, rejected the claims.
The judge said: “In my judgement, you do not show true remorse - the remorse is for the situation in which you find yourself.
“Through your counsel, you say you are sorry for the accident, it was not an accident, it was a criminal act.”
She told Frankham he had snatched away his victim’s dreams of becoming a police officer by “irrevocably blightening her young life”.
Frankham, from Harrietsham in Kent, was jailed for four years and will face a driving ban for a further two upon his release.
Frankham had previously pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and burglary at Canterbury Crown Court.
After being ordered down to the cells, Frankham said from the dock: “Thank you very much.”
But Ms Hambleton's ordeal continues and she says he should have got a longer sentence.
She added: "I felt anxious because the case took so long to go to court,”
“I had never seen Frankham's face until last month - it was pitch black on the night of the crash.
“Now, I feel anger towards the justice system. Things move so slowly.
"It seems money was more important than the victim, me, who has a lifetime of injuries to face, and the trauma I had to suffer a good year after the accident.
“He was only given four years – he will be out in two. That is less time in custody than it has taken for the case to come to court.
“After those two years, he will be back with his family living a normal life, while I’m left with mental and physical scars, and even more surgery."
Ms Hambelton is now back behind the wheel and has plans in the pipeline to start a petition calling for tougher sentences for those convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
She said: “I felt happy to get behind the wheel again, so I could get back my independence. I’m very grateful that I enjoy driving and can still drive.
“People are always taking a risk when they get behind the wheel - for me, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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