Judge to visit cyclist left for dead by drunk

A JUDGE was so moved by the plight of a teenage cyclist who was left for dead by a businessman in a drunken hit-andrun that he has arranged to visit the victim at home.

In one of the first cases of its kind, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC will visit Kiernan Roberts, 16, who lost a third of his skull and suffered a broken neck, after he jailed for three years the former Chamber of Commerce president who ruined the teenager’s life.

After indulging in cocktails at an event last October with Michael Howard, the former Tory leader, and Geoffrey Boycott, the former cricketer, Owen Finn, 64, got behind the wheel of his Mercedes and struck the youngster as the teenager rode home from his part-time job at a restaurant in Elloughton, near Beverley, East Yorks.

The star A-level student, who had dreamed of becoming a professional cyclist and a political journalist, had to undergo life-saving surgery at Hull Royal Infirmary, where medics removed a third of his skull.

Kiernan was in and out of a coma for almost six months and returned home only a few days ago.

After the hit-and-run, Finn returned to his ex-wife’s home nearby, changed his clothes and drove 130 miles to Birmingham to cover his tracks. But Finn’s ex-wife reported him to the police. Kiernan’s mother, Marie, told The

Sunday Telegraph: “He [Finn] is a coward for what he has done, he left my son dying in the road. I do not feel he has shown remorse other than for the position he has lost in the community.”

Finn, now of Birmingham, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to report an accident and drink-driving. Judge Richardson QC, Recorder of Hull and East Riding, told Finn: “Your behaviour that night was shameful in the extreme.”