A CAREER criminal badly injured himself in a crash while driving at high speeds — then used his crutches to carry out more burglaries.

Scott Robinson slammed into a tree driving at 70mph on a 20mph road after taking heroin, hurting himself and a passenger.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday after a court heard how once he got out of hospital he used his crutches to smash glass panes during two burglaries.

Robinson was at a house in Westhoughton, with his friend Christopher Gorman, when he offered him a lift home in a Ford Fiesta in the early hours of April 17 last year.

Mr Gorman said Robinson started accelerating and decelerating dramatically and was driving at speeds of 70mph in a built up area, also going around corners on the wrong side of the road.

The car turned into Southfield Drive, Westhoughton, and took a bend too quickly, causing the car to mount a grass verge.

Mr Gorman 'begged' him to stop and because of the speed the car was going he believed Robinson was asleep. So he grabbed the steering wheel, causing the car to collide with a car and a tree.

Mr Gorman and Robinson were both seriously injured in the crash — the passenger needed wrist surgery and had metal plates and pins put in. Fluid also built up in his lung cavity.

Robinson was also injured and was in hospital for some time. He suffered serious leg injuries and required crutches after his release from hospital.

Robinson was already disqualified from driving when he caused the crash and was uninsured.

On July 18 at around 4.30pm, Robinson was involved in another crash at the junction of Upton Road and Bolton Road in Atherton when he sped through a red light, damaging the other vehicle and causing minor injuries to the driver.

On August 22, Robinson, aged 41, of Washacre in Westhoughton, broke into Wigan Town Hall and was seen on CCTV on crutches and used them to smash the glass to gain access to the building and steal a laptop.

Then on November 14, Robinson was caught on CCTV using one of his crutches to smash a glass pane to gain access to Westhoughton indoor market.

Once inside he targeted a mobile phone shop and stole a number of items, worth around £1,600.

CCTV of the break-in was posted on Facebook and the owner of the business recognised Robinson as someone who sometimes sold him items.

That morning a woman had left the key in the ignition of her Citroen car while it was defrosting outside her Westhoughton home when Robinson came across it and took it and drove it to his home address.

When police found the car, it contained items stolen from the market and more were found in Robinson's home.

The court heard that Robinson had been offending since the age of 13 and had previously committed burglaries and driving offences.

At one point, before he admitted the offences, Robinson planned to blame the Southfield Drive crash on a medical episode and intended to say that until Mr Gorman grabbed the wheel he was driving safely. Judge Richard Gioserano said that was 'ludicrous'.

Martin Pizzey, defending Robinson, said that he accepted responsibility for the crash and wanted to change his ways to stop taking drugs and move away from a life of crime.

Judge Gioserano said: "As soon as you were mobile again, all be it you were on crutches, you were offending again.

"It would appear on the face of it you learned absolutely nothing from what you did to yourself and Mr Gorman in April of last year."

Robinson pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, two counts of burglary, driving without due care and attention, three counts of driving whilst disqualified, three counts of driving without insurance and breach of a suspended sentence and was sentenced to 42 months in prison.