News from around the county 54 months’ jail for hit-and-run driver
An uninsured and unlicensed driver with just seven lessons under his belt killed a pedestrian in a hit-and-run collision on Christmas Eve, a court heard.
A car driven by Jamie BurchellReeves, 23, struck Liam Rogerson, 28, on a pedestrian crossing in Greenhithe, despite traffic being stopped at a red light.
The victim, who had been making his way to his sister’s home, suffered severe head injuries, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Burchell-Reeves, of Wakefield Road, Greenhithe, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court having admitted failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report it, causing death by dangerous driving, and being uninsured and unlicensed.
The incident saw him in breach of six suspended sentences – including one for battery – and a non-molestation order.
In total he was handed a fourand-a-half-year jail term and a five-and-a-quarter-year driving ban. He will also have to take an extended driving test.
Burchell- Reeves was driving with girlfriend Sophie Jane Clarke, who owned the Corsa, and a friend Paige Stilwell.
Both of his passengers told him to slow down in the moments before the incident.
After fleeing, he swapped seats with his girlfriend at Dartford’s Hilton Hotel.
Clarke, of Medway Road, Crayford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, not telling police about the crash and allowing her boyfriend to use the car without a licence or insurance at a hearing at Medway Magistrates’ Court in June.
She was given an eight-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, and banned from driving for a year, as well as being given a three-month curfew, ordered to take part in a 10-day rehabilitation programme and fined £300.