Harlow man who drove off from fatal collision jailed for four years

A DRIVER from Harlow who caused a fatal collision on the M11 and then drove off has been jailed for four and-a-half years.

A car and a motorbike collided on the southbound stretch of the motorway between Harlow and Stansted at around 5am on 16 January 2019.

Sadly, the rider of the motorbike, 63 year-old Steve Lord, died at the scene. The car did not stop.

Initially officers had very little information to go on about the circumstances involved or the identity of the car.

When officers studied Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras they established there were around

5,000 vehicles in the area at around the time the collision had taken place.

Following a witness appeal a lorry driver came forward with dash cam footage.

At the time of the collision it was pitch black and all that was visible on the footage was the tail lights of the vehicles passing the lorry.

An officer from the Forensic Collision Investigation Unit was able to identify the car involved as a Ford Focus or Fiesta from the shape of its rear lights.

That information was added to that from a witness who reported the car involved was blue and possibly a Fiesta or a Focus, and officers were able to narrow the number of possible vehicles down from 5,000 to 50.

One of those vehicles was registered to 38 year-old Daniel Tilley.

When officers went to his home address in Joyners Field, Harlow shortly after midday on 17 January they found his blue Ford Focus with damage on the driver’s side consistent with being in a collision with a motorbike, and he was arrested.

When his mobile phone was forensically examined it was found he had carried out a number of web searches, which he had deleted, for information and news articles about the collision as well as for strong suction plungers which officers suspected he was aiming to use to fix his damaged car door.

Officers also found a piece of debris at the scene, around the size of a 50p, which had come from Mr Lord’s motorbike. When it was analysed it was found it had paint on it which matched that of Tilley’s car.
Through our investigation it was established the car involved had tried to undertake Mr Lord’s motorbike before pulling out of the move.

The car was then seen following closely behind Mr Lord before moving into the lane next to him, pulling alongside him, and swerving into him, causing Mr Lord to come off his motorbike and hit the central reservation.

GPS data from his car showed he was travelling at more than 100mph shortly after the time of the collision. It also indicated he stopped at the top of the exit slip road at junction seven and opened his door briefly before driving off. Officers believe this was to check the damage on his rear passenger door.

During his initial interview Tilley told officers he had a “momentary lapse of concentration that cause me to swerve from the outside lane into the inside lane” but denied any knowledge of hitting anyone.

However, he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of a collision, and failing to report a collision.

He admitted these charges at Chelmsford Crown Court on 4 September. At the same court today he was jailed for four and-a-half years and banned from driving for four years and nine months.

In a statement following sentencing, Steve Lord’s family said: “Steve was a wonderful husband, dad, grandad, brother, uncle, and friend.

“The grief and heartbreak we feel is unbearable and near impossible to describe.

“His warmth, character and wit made him excellent company. He was a ferociously good story teller and would often have us doubled over in hysterics.

“He loved his grandchildren and made sure he kept fit and healthy to spend more time with them.

“He was looking forward to walking his youngest daughter down the isle, and having a long and happy retirement with his wife.

“All that has been taken away.

“Daniel Tilley had a choice. He could have stopped to help Steve, he could have called an ambulance, he could have admitted what he had done.

“He did none of these things and only admitted what he had done when it benefitted him to do so.

“As a family we did not get the same choices but have to live with the consequences.

“And we have to live with them without knowing why Tilley did what he did.

“As a family we want to express our disappointment that Daniel Tilley could not be sentenced for longer within the sentencing guidelines.

“He has taken Steve away but will serve less than five years in prison.

“We will be writing to our MP and adding our voice to the countless others who feel the sentencing guidelines do not reflect the devastating impact crimes of this nature have.”

Senior investigating officer Inspector Rob Brettell, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Daniel Tilley not only caused Steve Lord’s death but then drove off and took steps to cover it up.
“It took some exemplary police work to identify the car involved, trace it, and gather evidence so strong it left Tilley with no option but to plead guilty.

“When we arrived at the scene we had few witnesses and the car involved had driven off.

“It is testimony the exceptional knowledge of my team that we were able to identify the type of car involved solely by its tail lights.
“It then took excellent detective work to narrow the number of possible vehicles from 5,000 to 50 and then to Tilley’s.
“In less than a day-and-a-half we went from no witnesses on a pitch black morning to the culprit being in custody.
“When there are serious collisions on our roads we only get one chance to collect the evidence needed to get justice for someone’s family so it’s really important we get it right.

“Daniel Tilley will now spend years behind bars and I hope he uses that time to contemplate his actions.”