A WOMAN left with life-changing injuries after her violent boyfriend pulled her car’s handbrake on the A40 said she is glad the “evil” man has been jailed.

But domestic-violence victim Lisa Dancer said she had been let down by Thames Valley Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after the case took 20 months to come to court.

The 36-year-old received a punctured lung, a broken rib and a serious back injury that required surgery in the crash on May 10, 2013.

Now the man responsible, 36-year-old Terry Stoute, has been jailed for five years by a judge who said he could have killed or seriously injured other road users.

Judge Peter Ross said the crash happened on the A40 between the Cutteslowe roundabout and Marston when Miss Dancer was driving her Audi A3 at high speed.

He said Stoute pulled the handbrake and sent the car spinning off the road and into a ditch, killing his girlfriend’s Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Chesta.

After a trial he was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and causing danger to other road users.

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Miss Dancer, of Croxford Gardens, Kidlington, who works in a tanning salon, said: “I’m glad he’s been jailed, but I have got to suffer for the rest of my life.

“I’m registered disabled, I live in pain every day and I have lost my dog.

“And to some people that might seem like nothing, but he was a part of my family for five-and-a-half years.

“He’s just evil. I’m just so glad he has been found guilty and put away because he’s capable of killing someone.”

Miss Dancer said Stoute would grab her by the throat, punch her in the face and was also verbally abusive.

She added the case had experienced serious delays getting to court, which Judge Ross described as a “catastrophic failure” in October last year.

Miss Dancer said: “I feel let down by the police and CPS. The delay has been disgusting. I’m not surprised that some women don’t come forward."

“It has been a real nightmare, and now I want to work with women who have suffered domestic violence.

“I have such supportive friends and family, I just feel for those women who haven’t and still have to go through this.”

Judge Ross sentenced Stoute to five years in prison and made a seven-year restraining order, banning him from contact with his victim.

He said: “You engaged in domestic violence towards her, putting your hands around her neck and punching her in the face, as well as mocking and belittling her.

“I find that on this occasion you did have an intention to cause her harm - this offence has to be taken in the context of what has gone before it.

She has suffered permanent, life-changing injuries because of your actions. You are a violent man with previous convictions for violence, including for causing grievous bodily harm."

“You put a number of other people at risk.

“Your actions could have led to their deaths or caused them serious injuries.”

Stoute will also have to pay a £120 victims’ surcharge.

A spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said: “Our Professional Standards Department has not received a complaint from the member of the public regarding this matter.”

A CPS spokeswoman said they could not comment before the case file was reviewed.

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