A hit and run driver from Cranbrook has been warned that he will be sent to jail after he admitted leaving a 16-year-old pedestrian seriously injured in a road near Exeter Airport.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Cyril Jury was banned from driving and had taken a BMW car without consent when he crashed into the boy on the B3184, near Clyst Honiton.

He drove away from the scene without stopping and with a windscreen which had been shattered by the impact.

The main route from the A30 to the airport was closed for four-and-a-half hours as police searched for evidence and Jury was arrested the next day after police appealed to the public to trace the driver.

Scaffolder Jury is already subject to a 17 month suspended sentence for a prolonged attack on a man who had to leap out of the way when he drove at him at 60mph.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court told him it is inevitable he will go to jail when he is sentenced in September.

Jury, aged 29, of St Michaels Way, Cranbrook, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, causing serious injury by driving while disqualified, two counts of careless driving, failing to stop, and having no insurance.

All the offences took place around 8.30pm on Tuesday September 10, 2019, near Clyst Honiton.

Judge David Evans adjourned sentence to allow the defence to obtain probation and psychiatric reports.

He said: “You have pleaded to committing serious offences during the currency of a suspended sentence order and you are going to prison on September 25.

“Exactly how long the sentence will be, will be decided when there is more information before the court. The fact that I am adjourning the case should not give you false hope.”

Barry White, defending, said Jury suffers from serious mental health problems and spent five months in psychiatric intensive care after being sectioned in October last year.

* Jury received the 17 month suspended sentence almost two years ago for an attack in which he tried to run over a former employee who fell out with him over unpaid wages.