OUTRAGEOUS – that’s how a judge described the driving of a boy racer who mowed down a pedestrian as he tried to cross a road.

Christopher Whitehorn was jailed after the court heard how he was driving at more than 50 miles per hour up New Road in Basingstoke when his BMW hit Pete Velkovic. Mr Velkovic, a 56-year-old musician, suffered two fractures of his spine, broken ribs and head injuries and had to spend three weeks in intensive care.

Judge Guy Boney told Whitehorn, 27, that it was fortunate that Mr Velkovic had not died in the crash, which took place at 1.25pm on April 25 last year.

The judge said: “In speeding at lunchtime in the middle of Basingstoke in a 30mph zone, one could describe this as not only dangerous but outrageous.

“You, in boy racer fashion, came straight down the outside lane at a speed which was certainly more than 50mph.”

Whitehorn, of Hill View Road, South Ham, was in the dock at Winchester Crown Court, having previously admitted dangerous driving, fraud by false representation and driving without insurance.

Ed Pawson, prosecuting, said two students, Lewis Goldsmith and Martin Norgrove, saw Whitehorn driving at speed along Churchill Way, just before the crash took place.

Other witnesses, including Detective Sergeant Paul Barry, of Hampshire Police, were in New Road when they heard the revving of an engine and then saw Whitehorn’s BMW driving quickly in the right-hand lane, overtaking cars in the left-hand lane.

Mr Pawson said: “Det Sgt Barry stopped and the way it was being driven caused him to watch it.

“As it cleared the junction (with London Road), there was an impact with a pedestrian. He ran up the road, saw a large amount of blood and arrested the defendant.”

He added that Whitehorn, who has previous convictions for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified, had applied for insurance, fraudulently claiming his father would be the primary driver.

Adrienne Knight, defending, said witnesses had seen Mr Velkovic start to cross New Road from the Civic Offices, only to turn when he heard the BMW’s engine.

She also said New Road was “something of a racetrack” and that Whitehorn said Mr Velkovic came “out of nowhere”.

But Judge Boney said the case was “as bad as this court has come across for some time”.

He jailed Whitehorn for a total of 22 months, and disqualified him from driving for three years.