Journalist who seriously injured cyclist while test-driving McLaren supercar loses appeal against jail sentence

A lifestyle journalist who seriously injured a cyclist when she was test-driving a McLaren supercar has lost an appeal against the length of her jail sentence.

Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports that Amelia Hungerford was sentenced in July 2019 to 12 months’ imprisonment with no parole for seven months, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

In May 2018, she left cyclist James Tan with serious leg and facial injuries after crashing into him in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in New South Wales where she was attending a media event for Signature Luxury Travel & Style.

Dismissing her appeal this week, Judge Helen Syme said that Hungerford and her passenger in the car had behaved like “excited children at a fun park rather than grown-ups test driving a motor vehicle” as she test-drove the £195,000 McLaren Sport Series Coupé.

GoPro footage from the car showed that Hungerford, now 31, had problems starting the vehicle and that she was on the wrong side of the road as she rounded a bend, crashing into Mr Tan.

Upholding the original sentence, Judge Syme said: “She estimates her speed being '50 or 60' but I observe the advisory sign was 25kph – she did not recall seeing this sign.”

Hungerford, who was released from prison last year on conditional bail, had already served seven months in jail prior to appealing her sentence.