Runaway driver caught by DNA on car airbag

Investigators examined the crash scene after a man was thrown from the rear seat of a VW Polo

A disqualified driver who ran from the scene of a high-speed crash, leaving one of his passengers severely injured, was caught out when police found his DNA on the car's airbag.

Jamie Challis, 24, denied he had been driving a Volkswagen Polo at speeds of up to 70mph (113kmh) before a collision with another car and then a lamppost, which ripped open a rear door and threw a 22-year-old man onto the road.

A police investigation, filmed for the Crash Detectives series, revealed that instead of helping him, as well as an injured woman, witnesses heard Challis say "I gotta go", before running away from the scene in Newport.

Challis was jailed for almost 20 years after his DNA linked him to the crashed car, as well as a balaclava he had worn to commit an aggravated burglary five months before the crash.

Forensic collision investigators from Gwent Police found he had lost control of the car as he hurtled around a bend on a 30mph (48kmh) stretch of road outside a cemetery in May 2022 and struck an oncoming Citroen C3.

Marks on the road surface showed the Polo had mounted the kerb and pirouetted around a lamppost, causing the unbelted rear-seat passenger to be ejected from the vehicle.

While critical care doctors treated the injured man and woman at the roadside, the man who had been travelling in the front passenger seat – next to the wanted driver – told police: "I don't know who the driver was, I don't have a clue."

But witnesses described seeing a thin, dark-haired man wearing a two-tone blue puffer jacket exiting the driver's seat and running from the scene.

As a manhunt began, officers tracked down grainy CCTV footage, showing the suspect making his escape through a nearby housing estate.

The breakthrough came when they traced the car to a local pub, where cameras had also captured the group in the hours before the crash.

With them was a man in a blue puffer coat.

Jamie Challis admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, as well as aggravated burglary

Sgt Cath Raine said officers looked at the footage "and recognised a tattoo on his hand, and a distinctive silver bracelet".

"They realised they'd dealt with him before," she said.

Despite Challis being identified as the key suspect, he remained on the run.

But his dangerous driving was laid bare by the vehicle itself.

"Because the airbags in the Polo deployed, we knew that probably that car's stored some data about what happened in the five seconds leading up to that collision," Sgt Raine said.

The team used a specialist retrieval system to access the airbag control module – where a snapshot of electronic data, triggered by the crash, revealed speeds, accelerator position, steering wheel angle and brake pedal application.

"It's data that links directly to what the person is doing to the controls of the car. And it tells us exactly what their manner of driving was prior to the collision," Sgt Raine said.

The data, broken down into half-second intervals, painted a picture of the driver with his foot flat to the floor, accelerating from 67mph (108kmh) to 70mph (113kmh), turning the wheel sharply to the left, then to the right, as the car lost grip.

"By reading the data, you can almost see the panic in the driver, trying to gain control back again. And clearly failed," said PC Matt Rue.

The driver only took his foot off the throttle and applied the brakes at the point he collided with the oncoming Citroen C3, the data revealed.

This driver of the Citroen had seen the out-of-control Polo heading straight for him, but all he could do was pull over into the verge and wait for the impact, which caused him minor injuries, investigators found.

Following the crash, the airbag was carefully removed and bagged as evidence

When Challis was arrested, he admitted to being in the car, but denied being the driver. He claimed he ran because he was on licence for a previous offence, and was in possession of cannabis.

But immediately after the crash, investigators carried out the meticulous process of swabbing the interior of the VW Polo for any forensic samples that could link the driver to that seat.

Crucially, officers knew there was a good chance that whoever was at the wheel at the time of the crash might have come into contact with the driver's side airbag as it activated.

It was carefully removed and bagged as evidence.

Sgt Raine said: "That's really significant. It's very unlikely that any other person would have touched that airbag at the point of the collision."

PC Rue added: "It's one thing being in a car, there's another being in it during a collision when the airbags are deployed."

DNA traces were discovered on the airbag – and became the conclusive proof that Challis was at the wheel at the time of the crash.

Sgt Cath Raine used the electronic data stored in the car to plot its route in the five seconds leading up the collision

But Challis was also wanted for other offences.

In January 2022, three men had forced their way into a house in Bridgend, held knives to the throats of the family inside and demanded money.

CCTV had recorded the gang running away down a street - and as they did so, one of them appeared to drop something in the gutter.

Police searching the scene retrieved a discarded balaclava, took forensic samples from it, and Challis was linked to another crime – once again, by his DNA.

"It was science that's allowed us to bring this offender to justice and taken a dangerous offender off the street," Sgt Raine said.

Challis admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, as well as aggravated burglary. He also pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified, dangerous driving and possession of drugs with intent to supply.

A judge deemed him a dangerous offender and added a further five years to his sentence – jailing him for almost 20 years.

The full story of the investigation into the collision can be seen on Crash Detectives: Left for dead – on Wednesday 26 November at 7pm - BBC One Wales, BBC Two England, and BBC iPlayer.