Hit & run driver jailed

A hit & run driver who left a man for dead in a high speed collision in January 2016 has been jailed for six-and-a-half-years.

Adam McDermott was driving his girlfriend’s Fiat 500 when he turned into a Brighton street on the wrong side of the road and hit Andrew Payne square on sending him flying into the air.

He fled the scene before his victim fell back on to the concrete, leaving him with life-threatening injuries. He later set the car alight and went into hiding.

McDermott refused to attend the Court hearing and was sentenced in his absence at Brighton Crown Court on Tuesday for causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without a licence or insurance and perverting the course of justice.

McDermott's girlfriend, Robyn Burns, was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years and ordered to do 160 hours of unpaid community work.