Tenacious team uncover truth about mysterious death crash
On Christmas Day three years ago David Evans set off on his motorbike for the hourlong ride home to see his family. He never made it as he was killed in a hit and run. Bronte Howard tells how ‘The Crash Detectives’ helped bring his killer to justice...
CHRISTMAS Day 2015. David Evans had been working on the south Wales coast and was told he could clock off early.
But while he was on the M4 a crash left him dead, some 100m away from his Honda CB 500. He was one junction away from home.
At 6pm, 40 minutes after the fatal incident, the emergency services received a concerned call.
“Just before junction 24 eastbound on the M4 there’s a motorbike right against the central reservation,” the worried voice said. “It’s actually on the floor but there’s no sign of the driver.”
BBC documentary series The Crash Detectives explored the complex case and how Gwent Police and its Collision Investigations Team were relentless in uncovering what actually happened.
The second episode, which aired on Monday night, followed Bob Witherall, a forensic investigator for the collisions team that was set up 17 years ago.
Mr Witherall told BBC producers he was tucking into Christmas dinner when he received the call notifying him of a crash.
“At the time there was nothing to suggest another vehicle had been involved,” he said. “Other than why would a motorbike just collide with the central reservation?
“I’m not sure what it was about the scene but at the time I recall saying that it didn’t feel right.”
The team searched for CCTV footage and immediately tracked down the bike, along with a car which had been travelling dangerously close.
“At this point these vehicles go out of shot on the CCTV which is immediately prior to the point of collision,” said Mr Witherall. “That feeling I had about this second vehicle, another vehicle being involved… now there was some evidence that might be the case. So the question asked ‘has this bike crashed because of this other car?’”
The car’s distinctive headlights and black roof identified it as a Mini Cooper and automatic numberplate recognition software was trawled through to see if any matching vehicles had been caught on camera.
Hours of painstaking detective work paid off with a possible match, linking 49-year-old Nigel Sweeting, from Bettws, Newport, to the scene.
The father of two, who had 21 previous convictions dating back to 1979, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. He told officers he had been driving on the M4 to pick up his girlfriend, who worked at Newport’s Celtic Manor Golf Resort.
The officer interviewing Sweeting asked whether there had been anything significant about the journey.
“Yes,” he replied. “A motorbike trying to swap lanes”.
The officer pressed Sweeting, asking if he had seen a collision involving a motorbike on December 25, 2015. “No,” he replied.
However, closer inspection of Sweeting’s Mini Cooper uncovered damning evidence. The car had been covered in a film of dirt and grime, apart from one side, which had recently been cleaned. There was also a long scratch mark on the side of the bodywork which looked as if it had been retouched.
Sweeting had an excuse, saying somebody must have keyed the car before he bought it.
But Mr Witherall lined the bike up against the car, telling the BBC the mark was “bang on” with the rear of the bike.
On closer inspection tiny traces of red paint which matched the colour of Mr Evans’ bike were found.
Again, Sweeting had an excuse, saying he had scrubbed the car with a red scourer. Paint samples were taken from the bike and the Mini Cooper and sent to a lab for testing, but the results were inconclusive.
“It was a blow to me, but I wasn’t going to stop there,” said Mr Witherall.
The team revisited the CCTV and analysed the speed of both vehicles.
Sweeting was seen “plodding along with the line of traffic” before being overtaken by the motorbike – and at that point the situation changed.
“They start to accelerate; they start to get a bit quicker,” the investigator said. “The bike comes out to overtake the Mini, they start to accelerate. Now the Mini is in close proximity.”
When the car – travelling at an average speed of 86mph – is seen driving alongside the bike, the footage ends.
CCTV footage then shows Sweeting emerge from the scene but there is no sign of Mr Evans.
When questioned six months later, Sweeting said he hadn’t realised he was driving at such speed.
More crucial evidence was found on the footpeg of the Honda motorcycle. Faint traces of black material, first thought to be dirt, were found to have tiny traces of orange material matching an orange undercoat on the black alloy of the Mini.
The footpeg was sent to Chris Sammon, a professor of polymer science at Sheffield Hallam University, who used infrared technology to compare samples.
When the test came back there was a match.
Sweeting, charged with causing death by dangerous driving and attempting to pervert the course of justice, went to trial at Newport Crown Court in May 2017. In her victim impact statement to the court, Mr Evans’ elder daughter, Isabella, recalled her anger that Dad was not home in time to eat with the family.
“I relive throwing his Christmas dinner in the bin, every Christmas Day will remind me of that,” she said.
His widow, Rachel, described him as a “perfect husband and the most brilliant dad”.
Sentencing Sweeting, Judge Daniel Williams told him: “You caused the death of a trusted father. It’s clear you feel no remorse at all, just odious self-pity.”
He added: “He was travelling quicker than you, and overtook you. That was enough for you to embark upon a horrendous, dangerous pursuit. It would appear your ego is so frail that the mere fact of being overtaken was too much to withstand.
“This was an aggressive course of driving intended to intimidate and bully David Evans. You drove into him, clipping his foot peg, causing him to lose control and lose his life.
“Having driven him off the road, and to his death, you drove off. Even for someone with your record for dishonesty, this was absolutely shameful.”
Sweeting was jailed for seven years for causing death by dangerous driving and one year for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was also banned from driving for six years.