A JOYRIDER who helped to steal a car that crashed, causing life-changing injuries to one his friends, has been jailed for eight months.

Callum McCulloch, 21, was a front-seat passenger in the vehicle when it ploughed into a field in Dog Dyke Road, between Boston and Sleaford.

Codie Shears, 18 – who was sitting in the back – suffered a punctured lung, four broken ribs and need surgery to have her spleen removed after the driver, Wayne Abbott, failed to negotiate a sweeping bend. Miss Shears also required two blood transfusions.

A judge deferred sentence on McCulloch earlier this year after hearing he was also seriously injured in the smash – but Lincoln Crown Court heard he was now a serving prisoner after being jailed for other offences.

The court was told Abbott, 20, had collected his two passengers after driving off from a Boston petrol station without paying for £42 worth of fuel.

McCulloch and Abbott had earlier picked up Miss Shears after stealing the keys to the car from a friend's handbag. They then drove to Boston, where the two men switched the number plates of the car after stealing them from another vehicle.

Abbott used the false plates to drive off from a petrol station in Sleaford Road, Boston, without paying and then returned to pick up McCulloch and Miss Shears. Abbott lost control of the car during their return journey to Sleaford.

When questioned by police, Abbott said he could remember little of the accident.

During his interview McCulloch claimed he was looking at the car when Abbott came out with the keys. He admitted being driven away in the car, but said he thought they were only going a short distance as a "joke".

The court heard Abbott received an eight-month suspended prison term in May for his role in the smash – but he has since been jailed for breaching the sentence.

McCulloch, of no fixed address, admitted being carried in the stolen car and theft of the number plates following the crash on August 23 last year. He was jailed for eight months and disqualified from driving for a year.

Passing sentence, Judge Ebraham Mooncey told McCulloch: "I have to take into account you were not the driver, but you went along with this activity."