Hit-and-run Range Rover driver jailed for putting Morley pedestrian in hospital for three months
A speeding hit-and-run driver overtook a car waiting at a crossing and smashed into a pedestrian before leaving him for dead.
Jake Syron was behind the wheel of a Range Rover when he went through the red light and collided with the man, catapulting him 20 metres along the road.
The victim spent more than three months in hospital with severe multiple injuries. Syron was jailed at Leeds Crown Court after admitting causing serious injury through dangerous driving.
The court was told that the pedestrian crossing on Middleton Road, outside the Tipsy Cow pub in Morley, was on red for motorists at around 8pm on October 21, 2023.
A Renault had stopped to let people across, but witnesses said Syron approached, before “dodging around” the stationary vehicle and ploughing into the crossing man, prosecutor Abigail Langford told the court.
It was estimated the Range Rover was travelling between 40mph and 45mph on the 20mph road. Syron failed to stop and carried on towards Morley town centre.
The victim was unconscious as people came to his aid.
Syron went to Morley Cricket Club where his family were and parked up. The Range Rover suffered extensive front-end damage.
Syron was later arrested and gave a prepared statement simply claiming he was not driving dangerously. He then refused to answer police questions.
The victim suffered fractures to his ribs, pelvis, ankle and leg, internal bleeding in his abdomen and multiple bleeds to both sides of his brain.
Syron has two previous convictionsfor six offences, all driving related. He was given a 12-month ban in 2014 for aggravated vehicle taking and was then convicted in 2016 for taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
Mitigating, Eleanor Fry said that Syron, of Denshaw Grove, Morley, had “demonstrated genuine remorse and shame” for the hit-and-run.
But she was quickly halted by Judge Andrews Stubbs KC, who told her that Syron was “late to the party” having initially denied driving dangerously.
Ms Fry said Syron had been to collect food from McDonald’s for his children at the cricket club.
She said: “It was a dangerous but brief lapse of judgement that resulted in devastating consequences.”
Judge Stubbs jailed Syron for 39 months and banned from driving for more than 55 months.