Owen Scott believed an ‘evil gang’ was pursuing him (Picture: SWNS)

A father who crashed his three children and step-daughter into the wall of a pub at 92mph has been jailed for life. 

Owen Scott, had previously bludgeoned them with a hammer after going into a drug-induced psychotic episode, believing he was being pursued by an ‘evil gang’.

Today he was jailed for life at Sheffield Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum term of 14 years for attempted murder.

Two girls, aged seven and eight, and two boys, aged 21 months and nine months, were in the car when Scott crashed it.

A judge heard the four children were left with life-changing injuries by Owen Scott’s actions, with his seven-year-old daughter losing a large part of her skull, leaving her partially paralysed and needing to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

He crashed the car into The Travellers Inn in Yorkshire (Picture: SWNS)

They were all taken to hospital in a serious condition with injuries ‘not all thought to be consistent with the collision’, according to police.


At a previous hearing, prosecutors said Scott had used a hammer to inflict blows on the children in the grey Dacia Logan and had then driven deliberately at the front wall of The Travellers Inn, on the A629 between Sheffield and Huddersfield.

Scott, of Heather Road, Fawley, Hampshire, admitted four counts of attempted murder and one count of dangerous driving in January.

Michelle Colborne QC, defending, said Scott had ‘little or no memory’ of events in the car.

Miss Colborne said her client had undergone a psychiatric evaluation and although he was found to be suffering from a ‘short-lived psychosis’ at the time, this was not enough to amount to a psychiatric defence to attempted murder.

She said her client was a recreational drug user who had been taking cannabis since he was 13 and spent £100 on cocaine at weekends.

She said doctors believe he was suffering a temporary psychotic episode caused by his drug use.

Miss Colborne said Scott was convinced a Southampton-based gang was after him and his children and he tried to kill the children to save them from a worse fate.

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