A hit-and-run motorist who left a cyclist seriously injured after crashing into him while driving on the wrong side of the road in North London has been told by a judge that he could face jail.
Sean Fagan, aged 29 and from Crouch Hill, hit medical student Josh Dey, aged 22, on Easter Sunday on Swain’s Lane, Highgate – a road that is very popular among cyclists in the capital looking to do hill repetitions.
The victim sustained injuries including a bleed on the brain, knee ligament damage, and his nose “broken into multiple bits."
The incident made national headlines after Mr Dey managed to obtain CCTV footage from a nearby premises and shared it with local paper, the Ham & High.
Several days later, police confirmed that Fagan had been charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to stop after a road traffic collision and failing to report a road traffic collision.
Metro reports that yesterday, Fagan pleaded guilty to all three charges at Blackfriars Crown Court, to which the case had been referred from Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court following a hearing last month.
Judge John Hillen, who has adjourned the case pending medical and probation reports, told Fagan: “There was a catastrophic brain injury and some injuries to the right leg but the brain injury is the most serious incident.
“You have pleaded guilty and I am told you had wished to plead guilty at the magistrates court.
“If that is accepted by the sentencing judge then full credit will be given.
“This is a serious matter which would normally attract an immediate prison sentence,”” the judge continued.
“I am going to adjourn for a pre-sentence report to be written, we need to know more about you.
“The harm which was caused to the victim is also a matter which will need to be taken into account,” he added.
Causing serious injury by dangerous driving carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.
Fagan has been bailed pending sentencing, which is scheduled for 2 July.
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31 comments
The jails are already full so no chance of him going to prison...
The courts really do not take this type of crime seriously, certainly not to the extent of either punishing the criminal or sending any sort of deterrent message that this kind of behaviour behind the wheel is not acceptable.
From my local paper today.
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/peterborough-danger...
I'd have to say that if he had done that to my wife and child, then no car he ever owned or drove again would avoid catching fire.
Surely there must be a better way of doing the 'reduced sentence for guilty plea' thing? Clearly it happens because the system has a strong interest in avoiding a contested trial, in order to save money.
But shouldn't the reduction be variable and based on a legal judgement about how strong the case is? If someone has a large amount of evidence against them and it looks probable they will be convicted then should they not be offered a much smaller incentive to plead guilty? As in that case they probably know they have little chance of avoiding jail if they don't. Even if they are 'bang to rights' it's going to be worth offering _some_ incentive for a guilty plea, but not as much as if it's a case that could go either way.
Essentially it's a close-relative of the 'plea bargain' thing seen in any number of US crime dramas, and I get the impression (from my expert TV viewing) that there the nature of the bargain varies depending on what the prosecutors think the accused will accept, it's not just a fixed one-size-fits-all offer. With all negotiations you surely want to offer variable offers depending on who you are dealing with, fixed-prices are inefficient.
Interesting to see whether he gets a harsher sentence than Alliston.
not necessarily a relavent comparison, that one was a fatality, I will happily stand corrected but I don't think he fled the scene of the collision though unlike the driver here
However, Alliston was found not guilty of causing her death, so I think the comparison is valid. I don't think Alliston fled the scene, but cyclists don't have the same legal responsibilities after collisions anyway.
Its debateable for sure, but the courts take leaving the scene & severity of the injuries that resulted as the far more serious aspects of the charges presented, than the actual collision in the first place. Had the BMW driver stopped,reported the collision etc etc,its unlikely it would have gone much further than a slap on the wrist 3pts and one of those driving courses,fine paid to victim. It's only in leaving the scene & the cyclist having had serious injuries that a jail term has even come into consideration. FWIW the last case I read where a driver left the scene after hitting a cyclist, they got 20 weeks. This guy only got 16 months and he deliberately knocked a cyclist
down and then fled https://road.cc/content/news/237865-driver-who-deliberately-knocked-cycl...
If the BMW driver had not fled the scene, there's a chance he would have been drink/drug tested and his vehicle searched. When a driver flees the scene there probably should be an assumption that they are hiding something. I knew of someone who crashed into some parked cars and went home - the Police turned up on his doorstep later that evening and he was convicted of drink driving (even though the Police were not able to prove that the alcohol had not been consumed after arriving home).
It's an interesting mix - you're right that Alliston wasn't convicted of manslaughter, only for the lesser charge of wanton & furious driving (i.e. serious injury caused by manner of 'driving', including of non-motor vehicles) . But the fact that his offence resulted in a fatality will still have been taken into account when assessing the level of harm for the purposes of deciding the sentence - see para 11-12 of the sentencing remarks. So while the offences being charged in the two cases are similar (serious injury by [X]), I think the different severity of outcome will still factor in the sentence.
As a side note , I have seen the footage, there is a passanger in the car - they are a witness to the collision (I refuse to say accident) and didn't come forward to report it or identify the driver.
Can this passanger be charged in relation to this as well or are they simply a witness with no legal obligations (certainly plenty moral obligations)
I can't see him walking free from court, because this incident can't possibly be waved away as "a moment's innattention that could happen to anyone", as most under-prosecuted motoring offences are. It was clearly a deliberate action, after which the driver left the scene. I think the justice system, while clearly flawed when it comes to cases where people are injured by drivers, will view this as a deliberate attack and will sentence accordingly, particularly as the driver can't plausibly offer a defence. The guilty plea will help, but I can't see it getting him out of a jail term, so I'll go for a year's chokey.
Shall we have a sweepstake to guess the punishment? I'll go for:
-6 month suspended prison sentence
-18 month driving ban
18 months prison
24 months driving ban.
Remember he'll be out in 9 months.
If the judge does not imprison then there must be a referral under Sections 35 and 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Anything around the Charlie Alliston mark would be a disgrace given Alliston deliberately tried to avoid the pedestrian who ran into his path, was not on the wrong side of the road, was not travelling at excessive speed, did not ride off.
The early guilty plea is bullshit and to get such a large amount of your tariff taken off when the case is clear as day is utter pants.
He'll get a red mark on his wrist from the slap
If our judicial system has any element of fairness and justice, Fagan will receive a significant prison sentence, certainly more than two years. He left an injured person, possibly dying, in the road and drove off chatting with his friend. It doesn't appear that he came forward and confessed, he had to be traced and arrested, so notwithstanding the guilty plea, he was quite happy to avoid responsibility.
But I'm all too well aware of the Mick Mason case.
I remember a few years ago I was heading down highgate hill west ,if you have never been up or down the hill there are little road islands in the middle of the road . I was heading down hill, the traffic going up was at a standstill. About I’d estimate a third of the way down (I was shifting as my side of the road was clear ) a BMW decided to jump the traffic jam swing out to my side of the road round a island ,heading face onto me . I got as close to the curb as possible and managed to squeeze past . It was so fast I had no time to think ,I did stop ASAP and gassed it up the hill but the car had gone , had his / her foot down . To be honest being a ex cycling courier it just brought back a lot of memories of my time doing that job , so many crashes and near death close calls . Someone who’s headed on the wrong side of the road and caused injuries must be accountable. I’m not a fan of just chucking people in prison especially if they are not violent and are of no physical threat to anyone ,but ramifications to the injured rider and some kind of long term community service and the loss of his license would seem a good way to go . Make the wrong doers pay but not at our cost.
I remember a few years ago I was heading down highgate hill west ,if you have never been up or down the hill there are little road islands in the middle of the road . I was heading down hill, the traffic going up was at a standstill. About I’d estimate a third of the way down (I was shifting as my side of the road was clear ) a BMW decided to jump the traffic jam swing out to my side of the road round a island ,heading face onto me . I got as close to the curb as possible and managed to squeeze past . It was so fast I had no time to think ,I did stop ASAP and gassed it up the hill but the car had gone , had his / her foot down . To be honest being a ex cycling courier it just brought back a lot of memories of my time doing that job , so many crashes and near death close calls . Someone who’s headed on the wrong side of the road and caused injuries must be accountable. I’m not a fan of just chucking people in prison especially if they are not violent and are of no physical threat to anyone ,but ramifications to the injured rider and some kind of long term community service and the loss of his license would seem a good way to go . Make the wrong doers pay but not at our cost.
I remember a few years ago I was heading down highgate hill west ,if you have never been up or down the hill there are little road islands in the middle of the road . I was heading down hill, the traffic going up was at a standstill. About I’d estimate a third of the way down (I was shifting as my side of the road was clear ) a BMW decided to jump the traffic jam swing out to my side of the road round a island ,heading face onto me . I got as close to the curb as possible and managed to squeeze past . It was so fast I had no time to think ,I did stop ASAP and gassed it up the hill but the car had gone , had his / her foot down . To be honest being a ex cycling courier it just brought back a lot of memories of my time doing that job , so many crashes and near death close calls . Someone who’s headed on the wrong side of the road and caused injuries must be accountable. I’m not a fan of just chucking people in prison especially if they are not violent and are of no physical threat to anyone ,but ramifications to the injured rider and some kind of long term community service and the loss of his license would seem a good way to go . Make the wrong doers pay but not at our cost.
Never had this experience as a cyclist, but twice have, as a pedestrian crossing the road, nearly been knocked down by drivers on the wrong side of a traffic island who were dodging a queue of traffic at the lights (they were also jumping the lights, and possibly speeding).
I really think some drivers very deliberately behave like that out of some sort of 'too cool for school' machismo rather than incompetence or even impatience. Slowing down or following rules isn't compatible with their 'fast and furious' image of themselves.
Regarding GDPR and use of the footage. A business using cctv is required to display a notice describing its purpose, and contact details. Usually they say something like “images being recorded for the purpose of public safety, crime prevention detection and prosecution of offenders ”. I would argue this example meets that test.
Could?!
The damning endictment is that the victim had to investigate the incident and source the cctv footage himself because the police were not interested in doing so.
I think this point was addressed in an earlier thread on this same story. Can't remember details, but basically it is often far easier for a member of the public to obtain the CCTV footage for evidential purposes than it is for the Police who have to jump through a number of legal technicalities for the evidence to be admissable, or something....
I remember someone stating that, but I argued against it as in my experience, police just have to ask for CCTV footage and most businesses will be happy to comply. In this case, the police were simply too busy and stated something along the lines of it'll take them a week to get around to asking.
I think that a hit-and-run should automatically involve a prison sentence.
Totally agree HP. I would actually argue that the restaurant giving out the footage to a member of the public and then them passing on to the police could actually be against certain data rights nowadays. I'm assuming police didn't even attend the initial RTA being as one of them didn't go across to try to get the footage then, especially as it looked more deliberate on each viewing.
I can understand the cynicism, but this case has already been transferred from the Magistrates to the Crown Court (increasing the maximum available sentence from 6 months to 5 years), and the judge has indicated that a custodial sentence would be the norm. The early guilty plea is likely only to reduce the length of the custodial sentence - he may get a reduction of one third for the early plea.
I think the judge having asked for reports is looking to find some positive stuff so he can reduce the sentence by a lot more than a third. I don't believe the sentence will be anything like three years. I'd like to be wrong though........
Anything less than a jail sentence would be an injustice
Anyone taking bets - no chance he's going to jail!
"You have pleaded guilty and I am told you had wished to plead guilty at the magistrates court.
If that is accepted by the sentencing judge then full credit will be given."
"How's a £50 fine suit you? Dont worry I'll make sure the cyclist pays it"
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