A MAN from Rhuddlan who deleted dashcam footage and tried to have his vehicle repaired after being involved in a fatal crash has been sentenced to prison.

Adrian Jones, 24, of Castlefields, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at Mold Crown Court today (October 28).

On September 30, he had admitted to a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice between January 27 and February 5.

Prosecuting, David Mainstone told the court how, on January 28, Michael Dann, 23, was killed on a dual carriageway on the A525 between St Asaph and Rhuddlan.

Two vehicles and their drivers stopped at the scene, while a post-mortem on February 1 found that Dann had been hit on his left arm by a car’s wing mirror, before sustaining fatal head injuries as he hit the road.

A third vehicle was involved, with evidence to show that this vehicle had run over the body after it had been hit.

The post-mortem found that Dann was already deceased at this point.

CCTV footage established that this was a Volkswagen Golf vehicle, silver or grey in colour.

On February 4, police attended Jones’ home address and found a damaged grey Volkswagen on his driveway.

Jones, who had no previous convictions, was spoken to, and admitted he overtook a vehicle and ran over what he believed at the time to be some part of a vehicle.

He had pulled in to a layby to check for damage to his car, and later took it to a garage for inspection.

The memory card for dashcam footage in his vehicle was seized, and files from January 26-29 were found to have been deleted.

Jones was arrested for perverting the course of justice on February 5.

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His phone was seized, and recovered Google searches indicated he had looked up such terms as “hit and run”.

A mechanic in Rhyl, said Jones had brought his vehicle in for repair on January 31, saying that he’d hit a speed bump; which left the mechanic suspicious about the explanation given.

Jones initially said he did not know what he had hit, which was accepted by police.

The day after the fatality, he heard about the incident, and thought he might have been responsbile for having killed Dann.

At that point, he was said to have “panicked”, and deleted files from his dashcam.

Jones admitted he should have called the police, but was “scared” and “upset about the incident”.

Defending, Simon Killeen accepted that imprisonment was inevitable, but urged for a suspended sentence and community service to be considered.

He described Jones as “hard-working, well-behaved, honest, polite, confident, and full of integrity”.

Killeen told of how, in the intervening period, Jones has continued to attend work, and is in the second part of his chartered accountancy qualification.

He said: “This is a young man, now 24, who has got no previous convictions, but is of positive, good character.

“He’s let himself and his family down, and he’s put his future in the most serious jeopardy. He does realise that, and has had some time to think about what he’s done.

“To say this is out of character is an understatement. His character is demonstrable from his time at school, and from testimonials from parents, friends, relatives and colleagues.

“He has suffered some anxiety about the outcome, not knowing what is going to happen to him.

“There is no evidence he presents realistic danger to public, and no suggestion of poor compliance.”

Judge Niclas Parry, while accepting the strength of the testimonials made in support of Jones, said his offence was simply too serious to avoid an immediate custodial sentence.

The judge also expressed his deepest sympathies with the family of Dann.

Parry said: “You admitted a most serious offence that undermines the system of criminal justice.

“Everything you admitted doing was aimed at avoiding police detection for an incident you believed resulted in death.

“You are a highly intelligent young man; you have the privileges of a fine upbring and education, yet you chose to hide the fact that, in your mind, you were responsible for a fatality.

“You didn’t report that collision, or go back to look – you knew that was wrong, because the morning afterwards, you were Googling about the consequences of committing a crime of hit and run.

“I sentence you on the basis that you would not have known that what you struck was a body. You wouldn’t have been able to see what was struck, but clearly, you knew it was a matter that should have been reported.

“By now, you’ve had time to come to your senses. I accept you may have been in panic, but what you then did deliberately, and with no little skill, was delete the dashcam footage.

“This wasn’t all in a moment of blind panic; it was continued conduct.

“You assisted police once interviewed, and I have no doubt you are genuinely and truly remorseful.

“You’re a hard-working, young professional with a strong work ethic. You have clearly acted out of character, and I accept this is a personal tragedy for you.”

Jones was also ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge.