Teynham Man Jailed Following Fatal Hit-And-Run

A 24-year-old man from Teynham has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he was involved in a fatal road traffic collision in which a teenager died.

Robert Lawrence, 24, of Barrow Green in the village, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday (27th February) after having pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop after an accident and perverting the course of justice. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

The court had heard that 14-year-old Kyle Coen (pictured above) had been cycling to meet his girlfriend on Monday 30th July last year, when he was struck by Lawrence's car on the A2 London Road, near Bapchild Cricket Club. The teenager, from Sittingbourne, died at the scene.

Lawrence failed to stop at the scene and later called 999 to inform police that his Fiat Brava had been stolen on the A2. He told the operator that he had managed to follow the stolen vehicle and that it had been damaged. Officers were suspicious of his account and Lawrence was subsequently arrested soon after the collision.

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Paul Fewtrell, told SFM News: "Offences of failure to stop following a collision are serious, but leaving the scene where a teenager sustained injuries that resulted in his death was shocking to all involved in this investigation. This was compounded by the phone call to police by Lawrence reporting his vehicle had been stolen. The damage to his vehicle would clearly have shown to him the extent of the injury caused, yet he tried to deflect the blame at the earliest opportunity."

Detective Sergeant Scott Lynch, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, told SFM News: "I would like to thank those members of the public who did stop and try to resuscitate Kyle for their efforts.
'The message here is you must always stop after a collision. If you do not, you will face consequences which include going to prison."