Road killer hit cyclist at 80mph and later posted on Facebook 'f*** West Yorkshire Police'

Lee Beevers was driving his friend’s powerful Honda Civic Type-R when he ploughed into 33-year-old Alan Tankard on Wakefield Road in Normanton, near Wakefield, then made off.

The Honda was found burned out a short time later and 27-year-old Beevers was arrested the next day.

He later admitted causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, without insurance and failing to provide a sample of blood or breath after being detained.

However, while being detained in a psychiatric hospital, in December last year he posted the vile Facebook message.

During a sentencing hearing at Leeds Crown Court this morning, Judge Ray Singh jailed him for 56 months, and banned from driving for nearly five years.

The court heard his friend allowed Beevers to drive the Honda on the evening of April 13 last year. CCTV from the Hark To Mopsey pub on Wakefield Road was analysed and crash investigators carried out reconstructions which found he reached 80mph in the 30mph stretch.

Prosecutor Michael Smith said the four passengers asked Beevers to slow down, with one even crying. The Honda then struck Mr Tankard in the middle of the road as he was crossing towards the junction with Church Lane.

Those in the Honda were left showered in glass and Beevers was heard to say “shut the f*** up” before driving off at speed. The passengers later said that Beevers “did not seem to care” about what he had done, but none of them called the police or ambulance service, Mr Smith said. Beevers then encouraged them to torch the Honda.

Mr Tankard suffered catastrophic head, neck and chest injuries and had no hope of surviving.

Beevers, of Normanton View, Normanton, was arrested the next day and said he was in bed at the time of the crash. He either gave no comments during his interview or gave “rude responses”, Mr Smith said.

He has 10 convictions for 20 offences. He was in court six weeks before Mr Tankard’s death after being caught driving without a licence.

Mitigating, Alex Menari said Beevers had a difficult upbringing, was just seven when he found his father’s body and was diagnosed with ADHD.

He also suffered a brain injury in 2013 that made him impulsive and did not think about the consequences of his actions.

In a letter he wrote, read out by Mr Menari, he said: “I know what I did was wrong. I’m truly sorry for the family. I can’t change the past but I want to move forward and be a better person.”

But Judge Singh responded by saying that Beevers had been in the dock during the hearing “shaking his head in disagreement”.

He added: “Posting that on Facebook while being cared for in hospital is despicable and distasteful. It’s not impulsive behaviour. You are in essence showing disdain for the police force that brought you to justice.

"Despite your best efforts in destroying evidence (by torching the car), they were rational decisions to avoid being caught. It’s calculated behaviour, not impulsive.

"To save your own skin you drove away leaving Mr Tankard. You did not care at all."