Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Driver who killed cyclist and scrapped his van to try and cover his tracks has sentence extended for conning pensioners

Fatal collision resulted in protracted police investigation to find the driver responsible

A motorist who hit and killed a cyclist and then tried to cover it up has had his jail sentence extended for two unrelated charges of fraud. Noah Chapman scrapped his van following a fatal collision in Hampshire in April 2016 and has now also been convicted of conning two pensioners.

70-year-old cyclist Richard White from Salisbury sustained serious head injuries in a collision on the A338 in Fordingbridge, and died of his injuries in Southampton General Hospital the following month.

Roads policing officers conducted extensive investigations to track down the vehicle after the driver failed to stop at the scene.

Chapman was eventually charged with causing death by careless driving, and with perverting the course of justice and sentenced to three years behind bars after changing his plea to guilty at the last minute.

Prosecuting, Mr Gabb said Chapman had been traveling at between 40 and 50mph and so had at least 11 seconds, across at least 250 yards, to see White, who had already been spotted by the two drivers behind him.

Chapman hit White with the wing mirror of his van but failed to stop.

He claimed he had been distracted by his three-year-old daughter who had dropped her dummy, but pictures from a camera on a passing bus showed he had been on his own.

He then tried to cover up what had happened by scrapping the van and throwing away his mobile phone.

The court heard that the police investigation to bring him to justice had taken two months and involved two officers spending 96 days correlating the evidence at a cost of around £50,000.

Chapman was jailed for three years for causing death by careless driving and perverting the course of justice, but the Daily Echo reports that this will now be extended after he was also sentenced for two charges of fraud.

Bournemouth Crown Court imposed a 12-month sentence, to be served consecutively, after Chapman and another man charged a Poole couple in their 80s £1,000 in cash for felling a tree while pretending to work for the council.

He and another man also targeted an 82-year-old woman from the area, driving her to a cashpoint in their van to withdraw £500 for them after providing an estimate for gardening work, after which they never returned.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
Red Bren | 6 years ago
3 likes

He got 3 years for taking someone's life and 12 months for taking £1500. So a cyclist's life is worth £4500?

Avatar
gazzaputt | 6 years ago
0 likes

Words fail me. 

Avatar
Fish_n_Chips | 6 years ago
0 likes

Poor rider and his family/friends.

 

Avatar
Ush | 6 years ago
3 likes

Allowing the mass use of private transport inevitably results in deaths like this.  Imagine if the criminally minded could claim "Oh.. I need this grenade for my work.  Please don't stop me getting to work by taking away my grenade."

 

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
15 likes

It seems to be true, that criminals behave criminally in many areas of their lives, not just one.

I well remember the story of the local police who kept an eye on who parked illegally in the disabled parking at supermarkets, finding that most of them were wanted for other offences.

Perhaps stricter road policing would bring down the general crime rate?

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
4 likes

burtthebike wrote:

It seems to be true, that criminals behave criminally in many areas of their lives, not just one.

I well remember the story of the local police who kept an eye on who parked illegally in the disabled parking at supermarkets, finding that most of them were wanted for other offences.

Perhaps stricter road policing would bring down the general crime rate?

 

When the police hold Pan-European enforcement operations on driving issues, it is noticeable how they also uncover many other crimes including theft, people trafficking and possession of firearms. If you Google TISPOL you can find out details of these. Insurance companies typically charge people with criminal convictions higher premiums because data shows they are also more likely to commit driving offences. Yes there is a distinct correlation between committing driving offences and being involved in criminal behaviour in a wider sense.

Avatar
PaulBox replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
3 likes

burtthebike wrote:

It seems to be true, that criminals behave criminally in many areas of their lives, not just one.

I well remember the story of the local police who kept an eye on who parked illegally in the disabled parking at supermarkets, finding that most of them were wanted for other offences.

Perhaps stricter road policing would bring down the general crime rate?

I used to work in an office overlooking a busy West London road with a bus lane on it. On a slow day we would watch the police enforcing the bus lane restrictions. The amount of times that they either found things/stuff in the car that shouldn't have been in there or arrested the drivers following information that they received on the radio was absolutely amazing.

Avatar
ChrisB200SX replied to PaulBox | 6 years ago
1 like

PaulBox wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

It seems to be true, that criminals behave criminally in many areas of their lives, not just one.

I well remember the story of the local police who kept an eye on who parked illegally in the disabled parking at supermarkets, finding that most of them were wanted for other offences.

Perhaps stricter road policing would bring down the general crime rate?

I used to work in an office overlooking a busy West London road with a bus lane on it. On a slow day we would watch the police enforcing the bus lane restrictions. The amount of times that they either found things/stuff in the car that shouldn't have been in there or arrested the drivers following information that they received on the radio was absolutely amazing.

It's the "rules are for everyone else, not me" mentality.

Avatar
David9694 | 6 years ago
10 likes

Depressing stuff. Well done the investigators for sticking with it. 

Avatar
Grahamd | 6 years ago
3 likes

Slow justice, let's hope the police keep looking and find even more offences to keep them locked up until they are in their eighties.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn | 6 years ago
4 likes

Complete scumbag.

Avatar
Russell Orgazoid | 6 years ago
10 likes

Good. Twat. Rot.

Latest Comments