Adam McDermott has been jailed for causing serious injury by dangerous driving
A driver who ploughed into a pedestrian catapulting him 60ft down the road in an horrific hit and run crash has been jailed for six and half years.
Adam McDermott, 33, drove a Fiat 500 into 53-year-old Andrew Payne in Brighton last year, leaving him seriously injured in the road before fleeing the scene.
Sickening CCTV captured the moment the father-of-three was flipped into the air like a rag doll as the builder – who did not have a driving licence – tore round a corner.
Dramatic footage was played in court showing Mr Payne being hurled down the road as passers-by looked on in horror.
The clip was posted online by police and viewed more than three million times, but Mr Payne left the courtroom while it was played saying he never wants to see it.
Remarkably Mr Payne, from Hove in East Sussex, escaped with a head injury and a punctured lung and spent six days in hospital. But almost two years on, he still suffers constant pain and memory loss.
Brighton Crown Court heard McDermott, who has 47 previous convictions for 114 offences, attempted to torch the car and destroy any evidence afterwards.
He was sentenced to four years for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and two and half years for perverting the course of justice.
But Judge Charles Kemp hit out at ‘grossly inadequate’ sentencing powers which meant he could only jail McDermott for four years for dangerous driving.
In an emotionally-charged speech outside court, Mr Payne’s wife Lisa said she was grateful her husband was still alive, but said there had ‘been a change in him’.
She said: ‘It has been subtle, not many people would notice, but he’s not the same person he was. He suffers with his memory now and is much more cautious about things.’
In his victim impact statement Mr Payne (pictured) said his life had been ‘completely turned upside down’ by the accident
McDermott was using his girlfriend’s Fiat 500 (pictured) despite having no licence. He smashed the windscreen as he ploughed into Mr Payne – but still fled the scene
Addressing McDermott the judge said: ‘It is your dangerous driving which had life-changing effects on Mr Payne and his immediate family.
‘We heard in his victim impact statement his sheer disbelief that a human being could do that and then callously drive off, leaving him as if for dead.’
He said it was ‘remarkable’ he was restricted to passing a maximum sentence of five years for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The judge told the court: ‘Five years for this offence is grossly inadequate.’
Brighton Crown Court was told the horrific crash happened at 3.40pm on January 14 last year when Mr Payne attempted to cross the road in Kemptown, Brighton.
Rachel Beckett, prosecuting, said McDermott was driving his girlfriend Robyn Burns’s Fiat 500 car to and from work in Eastbourne despite never passing a driving test.
He was driving with two passengers he had met when he was in Lewes Prison – Gerald Gribbin and Clark Walker.
On the day of the incident he was tearing around the streets of Brighton when he turned a corner and hit Mr Payne, who was crossing the road while making house calls as a meter reader for energy company SSE.
Witnesses described McDermott driving at ‘extortionate speed’ and then hearing a ‘tremendous bang’ as he crashed into Mr Payne before driving away with a badly smashed windscreen.
Despite calls from Mr Gribben to stop, he only pulled over when he reached a dead end, Ms Beckett told the court.
Mr Gribben left, but Walker and McDermott set the car alight in a bid to destroy any evidence but the car failed to burn properly.
Miss Beckett said: ‘Mr Payne suffered serious injuries to his head, two separate bleeds on the brain.
‘He had to have seven staples inserted into a head wound and he also suffered a punctured lung. He stayed in hospital for six days and had to undergo intensive physiotherapy.’
Robyn Burns, a fraud investigator for Lloyds Bank who was the registered owner of the car, told police investigating the crash she had been in work all day and her car was stolen.
But McDermott was overheard by his mother talking to Burns about the vehicle before he went on the run.
He was found on the roof of a block of flats 12 days later and arrested but initially denied any knowledge of the hit-and-run.
Mr Payne, who attended court with his family to hear the sentence, was rushed to hospital with a serious head injury after being hit when McDermott turned into Montague Place in Brighton at high speed
Adam McDermott (left) drove a Fiat 500 into 53-year-old Andrew Payne (right)
Robyn Burns was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years and a further 160 hours unpaid work for perverting the course of justice
Dramatic footage was played in court showing Mr Payne being hurled down the road as passers-by looked on in horror. The clip was posted on the internet by police and went viral and was viewed more than three million times
He also admitted one count of perverting the course of justice after buying lighter fluid and setting fire to the vehicle as well as a string of other driving offences.
McDermott denied a second charge of perverting the course of justice which will remain on file.
Today he refused to appear at Brighton Crown Court for his sentencing hearing.
McDermott, who has 47 previous convictions for 114 offences, was sentenced in his absence to four years for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and two and a half years for perverting the course of justice.
Walker, 32, who has 18 previous convictions, was jailed for two and a half years in prison.
Burns – who holds a degree in criminology and sociology – was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years and a further 160 hours unpaid work for perverting the course of justice.
Burns pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice on the first day of her trial.
The 30-year-old, who was working as a fraud investigator for Lloyds Bank when she lied for McDermott, was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
This was in addition to 80 hours community service she had already been ordered to complete after admitting insurance fraud.
It was revealed Burns had worked on a prison drug and alcohol rehabilitation team at HMP Lewes and met McDermott while he was a serving prisoner attending a course.
Witnesses described McDermott driving at ‘extortionate speed’ and hearing a ‘tremendous bang’ as he crashed into Mr Payne before driving away with a badly smashed windscreen
The damage to the Fiat 500 after Clark Walker and Adam McDermott tried to set fire to it
Mr Payne’s wife of 28 years, Lisa, a 51-year-old GP nurse, said: ‘I am grateful every day Andy is still here but there has been a change in him. It has been subtle, not many people would notice, but he’s not the same person he was’
Lisa Payne said her husband now suffers with his memory and was ‘much more cautious about things’
The pair began seeing each other regularly and Burns was suspended by her employers when the relationship came to light.
She later resigned from her position on the team and a finding of gross misconduct was made. The couple, who are still together, have a young son.
Sergeant Dan Pitcher, who investigated the case, said it was a ‘miracle’ Mr Payne was still alive.
He said: ‘McDermott’s actions that day were awful, he drove without regard for anyone’s life and when he did hit Mr Payne he didn’t even stop.
‘He would have known how hard he hit him and he didn’t even break. For all he knew Mr Payne was dead.
‘Thankfully this investigation has not been into Mr Payne’s death, this only comes down to luck.’