Banned driver jailed for Splott hit-and-run on girl, 6

Ashley Evans was sentenced to three years in prison

A banned driver who ran over and seriously injured a six-year-old girl and then fled has been jailed.

Ashley Evans, 28, hit the girl on Moorhead Road in Splott, Cardiff, on 4 May after she had fallen off her scooter, dragging her under his car.

Evans had previously pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and causing serious injury while disqualified and was sentenced to three years in prison.

It was "a miracle" the girl was not killed, the judge said.

Evans, from Splott, had pulled the girl free from under his car and fled the scene, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

She was taken to University Hospital of Wales with two broken legs.

'Panicked'

Evans had never passed his test and had been banned from driving five times before.

John Warren, prosecuting, said: "The girl was playing in the street on a push-along scooter. She fell off on to her front.

"Evans drove into the street and drove straight over the girl as she lay prone on the ground.

"She was dragged along as the body of the car was low to the ground."

The incident happened on Moorhead Close, in Splott, on Saturday evening

Members of the public helped lift the car to free the girl before Evans fled, with witnesses saying he was "driving fast as if he wanted to get away", the court heard.

Mr Warren said: "He was thinking more about himself than the little girl he had injured.

"He panicked because he was a disqualified driver and fled the scene."

'Cowardly and inhuman'

Evans later handed himself in and told police: "I thought I had run over a scooter because I felt metal on metal."

Kevin Seal, defending, said: "The only explanation he can give for driving off is the sheer panic and horror for what he had done."

Judge David Wynn Morgan said: "Your actions were cowardly and inhuman. The girl is making a good recovery but remains in the hospital.

"It is a miracle that she was not killed."

He said Evans, who also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and failing to stop after an accident, clearly had "no regard for the laws that exist for the protection of the public on our roads".

Evans was banned from driving for a further five years.