A Crouch Hill man has been jailed for 20 months over the shocking hit and run crash in Swain’s Lane on Easter Sunday this year which left student cyclist Josh Dey in intensive care.
BMW driver Sean Fagan, 29, will serve at least half of his sentence behind bars after Judge John Hillen sentenced him at Blackfriars Crown Court this afternoon.
This newspaper published CCTV footage of the incident, which saw Fagan lose control of his car and swerve onto the wrong side of the road before colliding with Josh, who suffered a number of serious injuries.
The victim, 21, has now been forced to retake the fourth year of his medical degree as a consequence of the incident, which left him with a broken nose, a number of bleeds in his brain and injuries to his hand and knee.
Fagan had been in a pub, though he claimed to have only drunk one pint of beer, and to have been distracted by his "worse for wear" passenger.
Passing sentence, Judge Hillen said: "It's not known how much you had drunk and it may well be that it was your passenger who was worse for wear and you were taking him home.
"You lost control. Watching the CCTV it is clear your driving became very dangerous.
"As you approached that mini-roundabout, around which Mr Dey was riding on his bicycle, you swerved, you went on the other side of the road and you hit him head on.
"From the CCTV this would have been a terrifying moment for anyone in that position.
"One might have expected any decent normal human being to have stopped at this point.
"Whatever your reason, you in fact did not do so."
Judge Hillen added that Fagan had "damaged [Josh's] bicycle beyond repair, left him injured in the road."
"You left him unconscious in the road whilst you drove away. That's a very very serious aggravating factor in this case."
In mitigation, defence barrister Ms Ciara McElvogue said Fagan accepted the severity of his actions and was "truly remorseful".
She told the court: "He acknowledges fully what he has done to Mr Dey." She said he was "truly remorseful".
Former LaSWAP sixth form student Josh said he was pleased with the result and told this newspaper he would now "hopefully move on".
Judge Hillen also confiscated Mr Fagan's black BMW convertible and banned him from driving for 34 months.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here