Ex-chef is jailed for hit-run on student
HE MOWED DOWN MAN AFTER TAKING HIS FRIEND’S MERCEDES WITHOUT PERMISSION
A FORMER chef at Manchester’s Hilton hotel has been jailed after mowing down a student and leaving him for dead in a 3am hit-and-run.
Dylan Worley, 22, stole a friend’s Mercedes to get home following a night out drinking. He ploughed into Jack Sharp, 21, as he was crossing Wilmslow Road, in south Manchester.
Worley, who worked at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate, drove off but was arrested after a taxi driver followed him and took down the registration number of the C250 sports car.
Mr Sharp, a third year English Language student, had been on a night out with friends and suffered severe leg and ankle injuries and had to undergo extensive hospital treatment. He was forced to suspend his final year studies at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Following his arrest, Worley, from Levenshulme, tested positive for cocaine. He claimed he had snorted it ‘in a state of panic’ when he got home.
Worley said he drove off as he feared being over the drink drive limit, but it is thought he was under.
Inquiries revealed he was on parole at the time having been freed early in May 2016 from a five-year jail term imposed in 2013 for an armed robbery. He also has a conviction for drink driving.
At Manchester Crown Court, Worley, who now works as a roofer, admitted aggravated vehicle taking and failing to report an accident and was jailed for eight months. He was also banned from driving for 22 months.
The incident happened on September 20 last year after Worley had been out with friends in Manchester city centre. He took his friend’s Mercedes without his knowledge before driving home through Rusholme.
The court was told that in 2013, Worley was working as head chef at a bistro in Blackpool when he attacked a shop assistant with a hammer during a raid at a jewellers in the resort. The victim was left with a broken collar bone as well as cuts and lumps on his head.
Michael Brady, defending, said of the hit and run: “There is no evidence that his driving was overtly bad or that of any excessive speed. Clearly, he should have stopped at the scene and he accepts that. Since his arrest he has stopped using cocaine and his use of alcohol and apart from these recent glitches the defendant leads a thoroughly decent, law abiding life. “He has made a huge error of judgement and he accepts that”
On sentencing, Judge Timothy Smith told Worley: “I cannot say what speed you were driving at but you had taken a car without consent and your driving fell below the standard expected. “[Mr Sharp] continues to suffer symptoms which resulted from that night. As a young student it has had a significant impact on his student career and this could have been far more serious. You made matters worse for yourself by not stopping and continuing to drive, compounded by the fact that you were driving without insurance.
“You are a bundle of contradictions as after your release on licence you reacted well having been released and you did not let what happened in the past prevent you from getting employment. But this offence is so serious it does cross the custody threshold.” Judge Timothy Smith