A "CALLOUS" Stourbridge hit and run driver has been jailed for 33 months after he left a teenaged girl with terrible injuries when he ploughed into her at speed as she crossed the road.

Adnan Ajram, of Careless Green, Wollescote, had been disqualified from driving just seven weeks before he left 15-year-old Claudia Visser critically-injured and he was also the subject of a night-time curfew.

The 24-year-old car valeter also maintained he had attended a Thinking Skills Programme with the Probation Service that night before trying to blame his girlfriend for the horrific accident which happened on Grange Lane by Pedmore Technology College and Community School.

Judge Nicholas Webb at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Ajram: "You are a callous and dishonest young man with no respect for the law and you are only interested in your own selfish ends."

Redhill School pupil Claudia had been out with friends on the last day of school before the Christmas break when she was knocked down by Ajram, who was behind the wheel of a powerful sports car, as she crossed the road.

Howard Searle, prosecuting, said Ajram had been "impatient" because a driver in front of his VW car had been sticking to the 30mph speed limit and the court was told he struck the schoolgirl while driving at "grossly excessive speed" after overtaking.

The incident left the teenager with all three main bones in both legs broken, a fractured skull, collarbone and wrist, a bleed on the brain - and her liver and spleen were also badly damaged.

She was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment, detained for seven weeks and she was still having to use a wheelchair - Mr Searle told the court.

In a victim impact statement she told police she was angry about what happened and felt like a "prisoner in her own home" although she had now returned to school on a limited basis.

She said the accident had badly affected the family and her schoolwork and Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme had suffered at what was a very important time in her life.

The judge said Claudia's entire life had been put on hold and she was still having to see a string of specialists on her road to recovery.

Ajram's response, he went on, was to drive off and he then tried to blame his girlfriend - who was a passenger in the vehicle - telling police she had been behind the wheel.

The court was told Ajram, who at the time of the crash was disqualified from driving and on licence from a previous jail term as well as on a curfew, had abandoned the VW after the accident - with Claudia's mother Simone spotting the emergency services at the scene from a window in the family home.

She ran across to discover her daughter was the victim and she later told police of the heartbreak suffered by the family following the incident.

The court was told traffic lights had been in Claudia's favour as she attempted to cross the road and she had tried to get back on the pavement but she was hit at speed by Ajram.

He later admitted causing injury by driving dangerously and was today sentenced to 33 months behind bars as well as being banned from driving for four years.

Justin Jarmola, defending, told the court: "He wants to issue a heartfelt apology for everything he's put the victim and her family through.

"What he did has had a profound effect on him. This is a wake up call for him."

But after the case - PC Karl Davies, of the Police Regional Collision Investigation Unit, said the family were clearly upset by the fact Ajram would not be spending more time behind bars - and they felt the sentence would never be a true reflection of the injuries sustained by Claudia.