Drink-driver who ran over 10-year-old cyclist jailed
A drink-driver who ran over a 10-year-old cyclist and then drove home with the bike still trapped beneath his car has been jailed.
The boy had been cycling along Church Street, West Chiltington, with his father and another adult when he was struck from behind by a car driven by 76-year-old Keith Vernon.
The impact caused him to flip over his handlebars and onto the road, where the car continued to drive over him.
Despite members of the public warning him that a boy was trapped under his vehicle, Vernon reversed over the boy, seriously injuring him and destroying his cycle helmet, before driving away.
Vernon, of Holly Close, drove off from the incident dragging the bike for more than half a mile.
The boy suffered a broken collar bone, a fractured vertebrae, a fractured pelvis, a dislocated hip and a burn covering the left side of his face.
When Vernon was later arrested by police, he was found to have more than double the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drink-driving and failing to stop after a road traffic collision.
He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and is disqualified from driving for four and a half years. His sentence was reduced for his early guilty plea.