Cambridgeshire fleeing burglar jailed for killing driver

Police said Dale Smith ran away from the fatal collision following the failed ram raid

A burglar who killed a driver while fleeing the scene of an attempted ram raid has been jailed for 12 years.

Dale Smith, 30, was described by police as a "coward" who ran away from the scene after the collision.

Mark Collin, 51, from Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, died at the scene.

Smith, of Front Road, Murrow, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving, had been involved in a bungled ram raid with two others at a Co-op store in Crowland in August.

He also pleaded guilty at Peterborough Crown Court to burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without a licence or insurance and handling stolen goods.

Together with the other two men, Smith used a stolen Toyota Hi-Lux to ram their way through the Co-op at about 04:00 BST on 1 August.

But after failing to lift the cash machine into the vehicle, the three abandoned it before making off in another stolen car, a black Audi S3.

Less than 15 minutes after leaving the scene, police said Smith collided head-on with the car being driven by Mr Collin on the B1040 Ramsey Road in Whittlesey.

Mark Collin died in the head-on collision

Police said seconds before the crash, the Audi passed in view of a CCTV camera from which it was calculated that it was being driven at 84mph.

After the collision, Smith and the two men got out the car and ran off.

PC Pete Bimson said: "This was a tragic collision that arose out of Smith's selfish actions and criminality."