Watch Sunderland dad-of-eight deliberately drive car into his family's home

Paul Palmer, who had split from the mother of his children, caused damaged to the house in Sunderland after a dispute over some clothing of his that had been left there.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 38-year-old had warned he would smash the windows when he turned up at the house a few days earlier and had sent a series of threatening messages.

It was on September 12 that Palmer, who appeared "intoxicated" contacted his former partner on Facetime then turned up at the house, in the white Volkswagen Golf, half an hour later.

Prosecutor Peter Schofield told the court: "He drove, fairly deliberately, onto a grassed area at the side of and some distance from the property.

"He drove over the grassed area and aligned himself with the home and drove into the front of the home."

Palmer, of Carley Road, Sunderland, admitted threatening to cause damage, causing criminal damage and dangerous driving.

Mr Recorder Jonathan Sandiford sentenced Palmer, who has been in custody on remand, to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with rehabilitation and programme requirements.

Palmer was banned from driving for two years and must pass and extended test before he is allowed back behind the wheel.

The judge said Palmer was "selfish and immature", had acted like a "petulant teenager" and told him: "You did something reckless and potentially very dangerous.”

The judge said the collision was not high speed and the damage was likely to be valued at less than £5,000.

He added: "Nobody in the house was hurt but clearly what you did was dangerous and it clearly created a great risk that someone could have been hurt.

"When you did that you were thinking out of your pure petulant selfishness."

Tony Cornberg, defending, said Palmer has accommodation away from the family home.

Mr Cornberg said the damage Palmer caused to the house needed to be "put right, rather than reconstructed".

Mr Cornberg added: "There is some work to be done and the work starts with him."