A mother has told of the terrifying moment a car smashed into her house as she slept.

The BMW flipped over as it careered through a church lawn and smashed a neighbour’s window before crashing into Sophia Donovan’s house.

The car struck her gas meter box and came close to causing an explosion.

The damage to the house, in Halstow Way, South Ashford, could amount to as much as £4,000.

Mrs Donovan said: “There had been four men in the car who were injured and were screaming and shouting for help. I was surprised that nobody was dead after a crash like that.”

The crash happened at about 5am on Saturday, July 26, while Mrs Donovan, 41, and her husband, Berron, 31, were asleep.

Their son, Tyler, five, had been staying at his grandmother’s home at the time.

The car had at first ploughed through the lawn of the nearby St Simon Stock Catholic Church and knocked down two fences then veered across the road, smashed down a neighbour’s hedge and tree and broke a window, until it finally crashed into the Donovan’s wall, landing upside down.

The four men in the car were taken to William Harvey Hospital but none of their injuries were thought to be life threatening.

Full story in this Thursday's Kentish Express.