A MOTORIST has been jailed for 17 months after a crash which wrecked the front of an estate agents' office in Knaphill.

Luke Curtis, 22, of Beechtree Avenue, Englefield Green, was driving a stolen dark metallic grey Mercedes, when it hit a grey Mazda at the junction with The Broadway on November 19 last year.

Shortly after the accident, he crashed the car into Mann Countrywide, causing extensive structural damage.

The car had been stolen during a burglary in Goldsworth Park the previous night.

Curtis ran off in the immediate aftermath of the crash but was arrested later that day.

Two female passengers in the car with him were arrested at the scene on suspicion of being carried in a motor vehicle without consent, but later released without charge.

At Guildford Crown Court on Friday (March 25), he was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to handling stolen goods, and given a 12 month sentence for admitting to aggravated vehicle taking. This will run concurrently.

Curtis’s licence was endorsed after he admitted driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and driving without insurance.

In addition a two-month suspended sentence he was given for having a bladed article was activated, and will run consecutively.

Mann Countrywide branch manager Sarah Greenland was due to start work as normal when she was told about the crash.

She said it was a relief now builders had finally packed up and gone home.

“As far as we are concerned it’s our workplace and having to go through the back door was unfortunate,” she said.

“We’ve had to just carry on with it but we haven’t had our displays at the front of the office, we’ve had chipboard on the windows instead.

“It’s even worse for the person who was burgled the night before.

“We don’t think about it all the time but it’s not something you forget in a hurry," she added. "Everyone around here was aware of it

“It’s not everyday a car crashes into your office.”