Hit-and-run motorcyclist left budding gymnast, 9, with one leg
A COWArDLy cannabis- smoking motorcyclist who inflicted life-changing injuries on a nine year old in a hit and run was jailed for three years yesterday.
Labourer Jerome Cawkwell, 24, was unlicensed and without a helmet as he rode a motorbike with faulty brakes at ‘crazy speed’ before ploughing into Max Clark, Hull Crown Court was told.
The youngster – a talented dancer and gymnast – lost his left leg as a result but has already set his sights on representing Britain in the Paralympic Games. Max was praised by Judge John Thackray QC as ‘an extremely impressive and courageous young boy’.
Sentencing, he told Cawkwell: ‘your cowardly behaviour in leaving the scene was in stark contrast to the incredible bravery of your victim.’
Cawkwell, pictured, from Hull, admitted causing injury by dangerous driving, having no insurance, no licence, failing to stop and riding a 125cc motorbike with defective brakes.
He had cannabis in his system when arrested later the same day but was below the limit for prosecuting.
Max was out with his parents Kirsty, 31, and Patrick Clark, 32, and his three siblings at rosmead Park in Hull on May 25. As Max crossed a footpath, a cyclist saw Cawkwell riding at around 40mph. Seconds later there was a scream, prosecutor Jeremy Evans said.
The court heard Cawkwell hit the brakes but only the rear set was working. He skidded into the boy, entangling his left leg in the machine and severing it. Max was dragged by the bike before being hurled into the air and landing head first on gravel. Then Cawkwell sped off.
Mr Evans said: ‘Max asked his father if he still had his leg and whether he could still run. ‘His son said he did not want to live any more.’ The bicyclist, who was a trained first aider, tied her belt around Max’s thigh to stem the bleeding. He was treated at the scene by paramedics and rushed to Hull royal infirmary where the dismembered left limb could not be saved.
Cawkwell was arrested the same day by police who found the motorbike at his girlfriend’s house.
Experts said Max might have been spared his injuries had the front brake been working.
Mr Evans said that Max had a ‘plethora of medals’ for his dance and gymnastic skills but could now not even climb the stairs.
Patrick Clark said in a statement: ‘We will no longer have a normal life... He may have only hurt Max that day but he has ruined the lives of a lot more people.’ richard Thompson, mitigating, said his client had fled the scene in ‘panic’.
Max received a prosthetic limb recently and was hoping to still do gymnastics, Mr Clark said.