Man jailed after hit and run in Brighton

A man has been jailed after crashing in Brighton while drunk and reporting that his car had been stolen.

Ashley Haulkham, 24, was sent to prison for a year at Brighton Magistrates’ Court for perverting the course of justice.

He was also jailed concurrently for six months for failing to report the accident and to another six months for leaving the scene of an accident, also to be served concurrently.

The car salesman, from Ashington, near Pulborough, crashed on the A23 London Road in Patcham, near the Black Lion Pub, just after 6am on Sunday 6 January last year.

A light blue BMW, heading north out of Brighton, had crashed into a parked Vauxhall Astra which had then been pushed into a Ford Galaxy. The Galaxy was pushed into a fourth vehicle, a Mini Cooper.

Ashley Haulkham

Officers from Sussex Police found that the BMW had crashed with such force that its airbags had been activated but there was no one in the car.

A bank statement, mobile phone and sat nav found in the car traced the owner of vehicle to Ashley Haulkham.

Later Haulkham phoned police 6 to say that his car appeared to have been stolen as it was no longer where he had parked it the night before – in Mackie Avenue, Brighton.

But Haulkham’s DNA was found on the airbags indicating that he was driving when the bags activated.

He was arrested at his home on Thursday 17 January. He was jailed on Friday 20 December.

PC Alan Harris said: “Haulkham has rightly been sent to prison after he crashed his car and caused significant damage to three other vehicles.

“Not only did he leave the scene but he also reported his car as stolen to try to deceive the police that he had not been driving.

“He knowingly provided a false account to Sussex Police of what happened, to stop himself from having to deal with the consequences of his actions.

“Our investigations proved that Haulkham was driving that morning and a jury unanimously found him guilty of all three offences.

“This behaviour is unacceptable. Haulkham put people’s lives at risk when he decided to drive. We will always bring those committing offences to justice.”