CRASH DRIVER FLED SCENE
APICK-UP driver was jailed for causing a serious head-on crash – then fleeing the scene. Dad-of two James Leach left stricken motorist Ifan Price bleeding heavily, with broken bones and a punctured lung, following the 5am high-speed crash on the A499 at Pontllyfni.
The court was told 29-year-old Leach of Oak Road, Chelford, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, already had previous convictions for being involved in road traffic accidents and failing to stop in 2009 and 2010.
Jailing Leach for 16 months, Judge Huw Rees said the incident was a “very bad piece of driving”.
He added failing to stop was an aggravating feature of the case.
“I have considered carefully if the sentence could be suspended but, in my judgement, this is so serious it is not possible to pass anything other than an immediate custodial sentence,” he said. Leach admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident on October 5.
Ryan Rothwell, prosecuting, said Mr Price was driving his Volkswagen van towards Caernarfon with no vehicles in front or behind him. He saw four cars approach him and realised the last vehicle was overtaking the vehicle in front.
“There was no time to take avoiding action and there was a high-speed impact. There was extensive damage with debris strewn for some 70 metres,” he said.
“Other motorists stopped and gave immediate first aid until the emergency services arrived and took him to hospital.”
Mr Price spent four days in hospital and was still off work, Caernarfon Crown Court was told.
Leach was driving an orange Ford Ranger pick-up truck and made off from the scene, Mr Rothwell added.
He was arrested at a caravan in Efailnewydd, near Pwllheli, later that morning. Another man, an employee of Leach’s joinery firm, was also arrested but later released without charge.
Leach told officers he had fallen asleep in a field and, having woken up some 90 minutes later, saw no sign of the accident and caught a bus to Pwllheli and a taxi to the caravan where he was staying while renovating a house in Abersoch.
He said he had drunk just two pints the previous evening, claiming to have been the designated driver on a visit to a Bangor night club.
Mr Rothwell said Mr Price did not know if he would fully recover from his injuries and was unable to return to work.
Ben Rich, defending, said he did not wish to minimise the effects of the incident on Mr Price but argued its effects had not been as severe as they might have been. He said Leach had a poor driving record from 10 years ago, but argued he had put his criminality behind him.
Mr Rich said Leach ran his own business and employed three people whose livelihoods would be at risk if he was sent to prison. He added Leach was the father of two young children with another child expected next spring.
“He accepts the offences cross the custody threshold and accepts he cannot complain if he does go to custody but I urge the court to take the merciful route and suspend that sentence,” he said.
In addition to the prison term, Leach was disqualified from driving for four years and eight months and must take an extended retest before his licence is returned to him.
Sergeant Raymond Williams, of the Roads Policing Unit, said: “Leach had no consideration for others as he drove dangerously that morning, which unfortunately resulted in a man being seriously injured. It is only by sheer luck that this wasn’t a fatal road traffic collision.”