A MAN has admitted the attempted murder of four children by hitting them with a hammer before crashing a car into a pub.
Owen Scott, 29, of Fawley, Hampshire, admitted four counts of attempted murder and dangerous driving at Sheffield Crown Court following the crash at Oxspring last August.
Two girls, aged seven and eight, and two boys, aged 21 months and nine months, were seriously injured.
Scott will be sentenced on 15 February.
The court was told Scott had attacked the children in the car with a hammer.
He then drove a grey Dacia Logan into the wall of the Travellers Inn on the A629.
Defending, Michelle Colborne QC said Scott had ‘little or no memory’ of what had happened.
She said: “There is mitigation which demonstrates that, at the time, it was likely he was suffering from a psychosis, short lived, affecting his ability to rational thought and self control, but falls short of a defence.”
Scott was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing. Judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell said further psychiatric reports were needed.
