[visordown.com] - Driver jailed over death and cover up

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Brian Hampton

16-year-old trainee hairdresser Jade Clark


A BANNED driver who knocked a teenager off her moped and fled, leaving her to be killed by a minibus, has been jailed for six years.

Health and safety executive Brian Hampton, 58, lied to his wife, police and a bodywork repair shop in order to cover up his involvement in the fatal crash.

Jade Clark, 16, was struck from behind by Hampton’s Volvo 4x4 on a Hampshire dual carriageway.

Her scooter was “swallowed up and fragmented into hundreds of pieces”. Hampton, already banned for drink driving, swerved and Jade was run over by a minibus whose driver had no time to react, a court heard.

Hampton, whose job it is to check the safety of railway signals, drove to the Premier Inn in Poole, where he had been booked to stay by his employers, railway company Signalling Solutions, the court was told.

He told his manager he could not attend work the following day due to swollen feet. He told his wife the car had broken down and it would be several days before it could be towed to his home in Shadoxhurst, Kent, the jury heard.

The court was told he then drove to a garage in Ashford, Kent, pad £4,300 to have the bonnet, grill, radiator, sump shield, bumper and number plate replaced, and stayed for two nights in a nearby Holiday Inn.

He told the garage he’d hit a deer but mechanics raised concerns because there was no blood or fur on the car.

Police launched a nationwide search after Jade was struck by the Volvo XC90 on the A31 in St Leonards, Dorset, at 8.23pm on February 24.

A post mortem showed the trainee hairdresser, from Ringwood, Hampshire, died of a severe head injury.

Officers ruled out more than 1000 vehicles registered between 2003 and 2007 before arresting Hampton at his home on March 21.

Rewards totalling £15,000 had been offered for information leading to a charge.

He told officers he had no idea why he was being arrested. He said that on the night of the crash he’d been visiting his daughter in Poole but had arrived too late and booked into a hotel.

He denied having his car repaired.

In a second interview he admitted the car had been repaired but said he did not know how the damage had occurred.

Hampton admitted causing death by careless driving at Bournemouth Crown Court and was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

The jury heard he’d received a 26-month driving ban in June 2012 for being three times over the legal alcohol limit.

Hampton claimed he’d felt a jolt at the time of the crash and thought he’d hit a pothole, but did not see a moped before or afterward.

Simon Jones, prosecuting, said: “Jade fell into the middle of the carriageway and the defendant swerved around her. That left her exposed to the fast moving traffic.

“Her moped was swallowed up and pushed along the carriageway.”

He said a minibus driver had no time to react and “drove over what he initially believed to be debris and caused catastrophic head injuries and instant death.

“The moped was fragmented into hundreds of pieces.

“Brian Hampton had already driven off, effectively leaving Jade and the scene of a fatal road collision.

“It was his duty to stop.

“What the defendant did was to seek to evade justice and pervert the course of justice by arranging for the damage to his vehicle to be subsequently repaired.

“He did this with one purpose in mind - that being to ensure there could be no link between him, his vehicle and the collision that occurred on the A31 that day.”

The jury’s unanimous guilty verdict was met by cheers from the public gallery.

Hampton was sentenced to two years for causing death by careless driving and four for perverting the course of justice, to run consecutively.

Family members spoke afterward of their devastation at losing Jade. Her mother Sharon said: “She was my friend as well as my daughter.”


Related Content

US biker sues Harley in ABS light case
R&G announce cheaper engine case cover kits
Kent Police crackdown on off-roading
Brian Purdy's ManxGP fireball crash
Ghezzi & Brian's Guzzi motard


Click here for full story...