Derbyshire hit-and-run driver left footballer in coma
A 29-year-old Derbyshire man has been jailed for three years for a hit-and-run accident that left a young footballer in a coma.
Haydn Thomson, 19, of Ilkeston, was in intensive care after he was struck in the early hours of 12 May.
Matthew Reynolds, of Ilkeston, was jailed for failing to stop at an accident, driving without insurance and perverting the course of justice.
Recorder Peter Ievins said Reynolds' behaviour was "contemptible".
Reynolds, who pleaded guilty to the charges at Derby Crown Court, was also disqualified from driving for four years.
The Derbyshire teenager was a keen footballer for the Gallows Inn Football Club and had previously played for Ilkeston Town's youth team.
Hayden was hurled into the air as he was crossing Stanton Road in Ilkeston with friends in the early hours of the morning.
He suffered a brain injury and spent 12 weeks recovering in hospital, including three months in intensive care.
Reynolds, who was driving at almost twice the 30mph speed limit, admitted the charges.
The car he was driving was found burnt out a few miles away with a large dent in the bonnet, the court heard.
James Harrison, 23, also from Ilkeston, who was a passenger in the car, was jailed for 20 months for perverting the course of justice by lying to police and getting his 18-year-old stepbrother Scott Hipkiss to provide a false alibi.
Hipkiss, of Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, was given an eight-month sentence suspended for one year and ordered to do 200 hours of community work.