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Woman, 22, suffered miscarriage after falling off car bonnet in 'practical joke gone wrong'

Keeley Harrison, left, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. (Wales News Service/PA)
Keeley Harrison, left, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. (Wales News Service/Getty)

A woman who didn’t know she was pregnant suffered a miscarriage after she fell from the bonnet of her car while her friend was driving in a “practical joke gone wrong”.

Megan Meredith, 22, broke her ankle and her knee when she was flung off her own blue Ford Ka in Bargoed, Wales, on 22 March last year.

Her friend, Keeley Harrison, 20, had jumped behind the wheel as part of a practical joke, and kept driving even when Meredith jumped on the bonnet in an attempt to stop her.

She fell from the car after it travelled along Upper High Street for a number of yards at a speed of between 16 mph and 19 mph, Cardiff Crown Court heard on Monday.

Harrison, a support worker from Brithdir, Caerphilly, initially claimed both parties were responsible but later pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

She was sentenced to 18 months detention in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for 18 months.

Harrison got into the driver’s seat of the car while Meredith went to put rubbish in a bin, leaving the key in the ignition.

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She locked the doors while two other friends were in the back seat.

Harrison said she intended to play a “practical joke” by driving the car around the corner, but Meredith jumped on the bonnet.

With her friend on the front of the car, Harrison kept driving before braking abruptly, causing Meredith to fall to the ground.

She sustained a broken right ankle and broken right tibia which required surgery at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, where it was discovered she was pregnant.

A mum-to-be lost her baby in a "practical joke gone wrong" when she was thrown from her own car bonnet by a friend.  Pregnant Megan Meredith spotted her friend Keeley Harrison, 20, getting behind the wheel of her Ford Ka.  Harrison locked the doors and tried to drive away in the prank while she was egged on by friends in the back seat.  But Miss Meredith was left hanging on to the windscreen wipers as she tried to stop the car escaping.  © WALES NEWS SERVICE
Keeley Harrison, pictured, got into the driver's seat of her friend's car as a 'practical joke'. (Wales News)

However, as a result of her treatment, including five hours of surgery, she suffered a miscarriage.

Meredith spent two weeks in hospital and was forced to take six months off work. Doctors have told her that her leg may never fully recover.

In a victim personal statement read out in court, Meredith said the incident came as a "complete shock" and left her "devastated”, having considered Harrison to be a friend.

She said: "This incident has ruined my life and I am worried about the future, my leg function and employment.

"I'm not the person I was before and I don't think I'll ever be the same person again. I now have to live with these injuries for the rest of my life."

The sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Meredith picked up Harrison and two other friends and parked in Upper High Street while the group bought some cakes.

Meredith left the keys in the ignition while taking rubbish to a nearby bin, but when she looked back she saw Harrison in the driver’s seat and found the doors were locked from the inside.

View of Cardiff Crown Court - Wales, Great Britain
Keeley Harrison was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court. (Getty)

Prosecutor Nigel Fryer said: "The car started to roll backwards and Ms Meredith leant on the bonnet, shouting at her not to drive the car, and there was laughing and joking in the vehicle. She also believed they were filming her on a phone.

"She felt the car move forward and was gripping on to the car to try and stop herself from falling. The defendant pulled out of the parking space while she was still on the bonnet and she accelerated up Upper High Street with Ms Meredith's legs dangling down.

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"She felt the car was being driven fast and she tried to grab hold of the windscreen wipers but she fell off the front of the car on to her right-hand side.

"She felt confused initially and didn't know if she had passed out but when she tried to get up she described feeling horrific pain in her right leg."

Meredith said the defendant and her friends didn't believe she had broken her ankle and told her to get up. The court heard the pair are no longer friends.

Defence barrister Jenny Yeo said: "This is a tragic case for all concerned. My client takes full responsibility for her stupidity and her actions."

Sentencing, Judge Jeremy Jenkins said: "Causing injury to your friend was the last thing on your mind, I have no doubt, but you have acknowledged how dangerous and foolish your actions were."

As well as the suspended sentence, Harrison was also banned from driving for two years and was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and to pay £600 in costs.