A callous motorist who drove into a grandfather flinging him 30ft and breaking his leg stopped to drag him further into the road – then drove off instead of calling an ambulance.
James Denning Price, 41, a chef, later tried to have the car he was driving fixed, claiming it had been hit by a pheasant in a bid to evade justice, it was claimed.
His victim, Paul Astbury, said: ‘I truly believe that he hoped someone would (come along) and I would be struck by another vehicle so someone else would take the blame.’
Appearing at Mold Crown Court today, Price admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for three years.
Price was also banned for four-and-a-half years and must then pass an extended retest before he is allowed back on the road.
Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing said victim Paul Astbury, now 68, a plasterer, suffered ‘life-changing’ injuries when struck while returning home from work on December 9, 2020.
He had caught a train home to Prestatyn, North Wales, and was walking across a road at a junction when the defendant’s Peugeot 208 car cut the corner.
The prosecution said Price ploughed into Mr Astbury, who was thrown up to 30ft.
The motorist stopped and the injured pedestrian, who was in agony, told him he had a broken leg and asked the defendant to call an ambulance.
James Denning Price arriving for sentencing, when a judge condemned his ‘callous’ conduct
Instead, however, Price dragged prone Mr Astbury several feet further into the road, in the path of traffic – an action branded ‘particularly cruel’ by a judge.
Mr Astbury again begged the defendant to call an ambulance but Denning Price returned to his car and drove away, forcing another driver to swerve to avoid a collision with the Peugeot.
The victim told the court the sound of his leg snapping was such a jogger who came to his aid had thought the car hit a tree.
He said it had been a busy night with people Christmas shopping, and his leg had been left ‘like that of a rag doll’.
‘I can’t comprehend how someone, knowing I had a broken leg and had asked him to call an ambulance, could have got back in the car.
The victim was in hospital for 15 days and needed screws and plates in his shattered thighbone.
Miss Downing called Price’s conduct ‘an aggravating feature’.
She said: ‘Attempts were made to hide the damage and he told others to get their story straight.’
Grandfather of four Paul Astbury remains on crutches two years after the horrific collision
Mr Astbury, initially left ‘bedridden’ and who still uses crutches, told the judge: ‘My life has become unrecognisable to the one it was.’
He described how he has been forced to claim state benefits after the ‘callous’ ordeal.
He said: ‘I had no intention of completely retiring. I was fully fit and healthy. I can’t work following the hit-and-run.
‘For nearly two years I was bedridden. My life consisted of moving from a bed to a chair for two years.’
It took two years for the bones to “knit” together – and he had to go on a stretcher to appointments and also suffered a burst kidney.
Mr Astbury said the ‘hit and run’ had been a ‘shocking and callous act’.
He said: ‘(Denning Price) ignored my requests for an ambulance and dragged me further into the road into harm’s way.
‘I truly believe that he hoped someone would (come along) and I would be struck by another vehicle so someone else would take the blame.’
Price had left the scene ‘without a care in the world’, said Mr Astbury, while he had been ‘bedridden’ and had had to use a commode.
He added: ‘You don’t sleep well when you’ve got a piece of metal in your leg held together by 12 screws.’
He had been unable to visit his late mother and late sister, and can no longer play football with his grandchildren.
A house he was renovating lies unfinished so his finances are ruined.
Now none of Mr Astbury’s family crosses that road because of the ‘distress’ of the memory of what happened there, he said.
Mr Astbury, a grandfather of four, used to undertake charity walks across the Scottish Highlands. Now he can’t manage stairs, he added.
‘How this person can sleep at night is beyond me,’ he said across the courtroom where Price was in the glass-fronted dock.
Mr Astbury added: ‘I want him to know the effects it’s had on my life.’
In contrast, Price had been able to get on with his life, had ignored public appeals, and had denied involvement in the collision when quizzed by the police.
Mr Astbury added that he’d been dragged ‘into harm’s way’, adding: ‘I feel lucky to be alive’.
The prosecution said Price, of Twigworth, Gloucestershire, had accelerated into the junction and had been on the wrong side of the road. It was a ‘deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road’.
The court heard he had a previous drink-driving offence from 2006.
Gareth Bellis, defending, said Price was ‘sorry’ and had panicked.
‘This was a momentary lapse where he cut the corner,’ the barrister added.
But Judge Timothy Petts told the defendant: ‘Your excuse has been that you panicked, but I don’t accept that.’
Mr Astbury in the last five years had suffered ‘horrendously’ and had extensive treatment to his broken leg, the judge said.
Judge Petts said the victim had missed ‘final goodbyes’ to family members who had since died.
Price had stopped at the scene but made things worse.
‘That’s a particularly cruel aspect of what you did that night,’ Judge Petts declared.
‘I find it difficult to accept that you are remorseful given the sheer length of time it’s taken you to agree to what you did that night.’
Outside court, the victim praised a police sergeant’s determination to find the driver and thanked the ‘magnificent’ staff at Glan Clwyd Hospital, who treated him.
‘I hope the sentence is a deterrent to other people,’ Mr Astbury added.
Price denied trying to pervert justice by hiding a Peugeot 208 and asking the registered keeper to lie that she had hit a pheasant to explain the damage. The prosecution asked for this charge to lie on file.
