Man sentenced to seven years in prison following fatal collision at Red Lodge

A 64-year-old man has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment and banned from driving for eight and a half years.

Nelson Curtis, pictured above, of High Street, Lakenheath appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today, Tuesday, June 27, in connection  with a fatal road collision in Red Lodge last year. Curtis pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop after a road traffic collision and failing to report a road traffic collision.

Police were called just after midnight on Friday, November 11, last year, to reports that a vehicle had been found off the road on the A11 southbound.

Lauren Danks, aged 22 and from Soham in Cambridgeshire, was found inside the car, but she had sadly died at the scene.

Police began a collision investigation and discovered a second vehicle – a Jaguar – had been involved. This vehicle was then traced and recovered by police.

Curtis was arrested later on in the morning on the day of the collision and taken into custody for questioning. He was subsequently charged with offences on May 6, 2017.

Curtis had drunk alcohol excessively before driving his Jaguar car at 134 mph on the A11. At the point the collision occurred he was braking but still travelling at 104 mph. Curtis failed to stop following the collision, driving almost two further miles with only three wheels on his car. He initially denied all knowledge of the incident to police before later admitting he was involved.

Chief Inspector David Giles said: “This collision which led to the death of a young woman was reckless almost beyond belief. To drive a car at such excessive speed, having consumed a large amount of alcohol shows a total and utter disregard for everybody else on the road. Failure to stop and report the collision compounded the distress of those affected.

“I would like to thank the officers who attended the scene for their thorough investigation of the circumstances which ultimately led to Mr Curtis being charged with these offences. I also appreciate the assistance that Jaguar Land Rover UK gave with technical interpretation of the data recovered from Curtis’s vehicle.

“Having suffered an unimaginable loss in such circumstances I would also like to express my condolences and thanks to Lauren Danks’s family who have been exceptionally supportive throughout the investigation.”