CCTV shows hit-and-run crash that left pensioner with serious injuries in Essex

  • CCTV footage shows how 20-year-old Bill Mooney tried to overtake a car, but ended up crashing head on with a pensioner's C3

A 20-year-old man driving a stolen BMW carried out an "incredibly dangerous manoeuvre" and crashed head-on with a pensioner's car.

Bill Mooney then fled the scene in Clacton, Essex, leaving the 90-year-old driver trapped in the Citroen C3 with serious injuries.

The pensioner has recovered but police said they could've easily been investigating a road death, with Mooney "racing through the residential streets".

The 20-year-old was caught after his DNA was found on the car's airbag. He has been jailed for more than three years.

Bill Mooney's car trying to overtake another car Credit: Essex Police

CCTV footage released by police shows Mooney's BMW 3 Series trying to overtake another car, and driving towards a C3 travelling in the opposite direction.

The C3 driver tries to steer to the left to avoid the crash, but what is not shown is his car being propelled into a front garden.

In the aftermath of the crash, the BMW is seen with a car part lying on the road. Mooney then gets out of the car and flees the scene in Oxford Road on 29 October last year.

The 90-year-old victim was taken to hospital, where he spent several weeks, with two fractures in his neck, a fracture to his spine and a bleed on his brain. He has fully recovered.

Bill Mooney's car heading towards a 90-year-old's Citroen C3 Credit: Essex Police

Police found the BMW had a false number plate and had been stolen a day earlier from Ilford, London.

Mooney, of Manor Court in Enfield, London, admitted dangerous driving, stealing, and driving without insurance.

He was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday to three years and eight months in a young offenders' institution.

PC Danny Wheeler, who investigated the incident, said: "Mooney’s actions were incredibly dangerous and directly led to the significant injuries to a man who was aged 90 at the time.

"He faced a substantial period in hospital for treatment to a number of serious injuries.

"We were able to identify Mooney as a result of forensic examination of the car and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

"I am not exaggerating when I say this could quite easily have become an investigation into a road death.

"Mooney had no regard for other road users when he was racing through the residential streets on Clacton. Thankfully, today he has been sentenced to an appropriate time in prison."

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