'Selfish and cowardly' driver avoids jail for fleeing collision which killed judge

A 'selfish and cowardly' driver has been spared jail for fleeing a road traffic collision in which a district judge was killed, after being cleared of causing the death himself. Elliott Nash was uninsured to be behind the wheel of his Ford Kuga as he was travelling home along the Aston Expressway around 10pm on December 16, 2022.

He struck Matthew Mawdesley who was walking across the road having been drinking and celebrating Christmas in the city centre that night. The 54-year-old from Manchester had recently been appointed as a district judge at Birmingham County Court.

While other motorists stopped at the scene Nash drove home and began drinking himself. He did not tell his wife about the incident and initially ignored the police knocking at his door around 3am the following morning.

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He ultimately did answer when they began to recover his car. When questioned Nash admitted he knew he had struck a man who had 'dropped' but said he did not stop out of 'shock', nor did he feel it was serious enough to alert emergency services. The 33-year-old security worker from Cedar Park Road, in Willenhall, admitted driving without insurance and failing to stop after an accident.

Earlier this year a jury could not reach a verdict on an offence of causing death while driving uninsured. The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently decided not to retry the charge and today offered no evidence.

Nash was sentenced to four months suspended for 12 months including 15 days of rehabilitation activity. He was disqualified from driving for six months but has already served the term following an interim ban. Finally, he was handed six penalty points and fined £500 for the insurance offence.

Judge Sarah Buckingham said: "Your behaviour was shameful and frankly selfish if not cowardly. Your failure to stop was likely connected to the fact you knew you were not insured. You must have suspected Mr Mawdesley was at least injured."

She branded Nash's claim he did not think it was a serious incident as 'ridiculous'. However the judge concluded he had effectively served a punishment by having to endure the legal proceedings of the trial, adding that his subsequent charity work had shown he had almost 'completely rehabilitated'.

Sharon Bailey, defending, said: "We have had the opportunity to look at CCTV of what happened several times and in slow motion. Mr Nash didn't have that opportunity.

"The incident happened in a split second or two and he had a split second or two to decide what to do and in that split second he made a grave error of judgement. He accepts that."

After the sentence had been passed prosecutor Phil Bradley summarised the impact on Mr Mawdsley's widow, which he was not permitted to do earlier because Nash was not found to be responsible for his death. He said: "It immediately struck me that her and her husband's lives were completely dovetailed.

"They were lucky enough to be in a relationship of more than 20 years. It was a loving relationship. They completely loved each other. For that reason his passing has affected her and of course their children greatly.

"On top of everything else she had to endure these proceedings in which difficult decisions have had to be made. Her fortitude and dignity have been massively noticeable."