A speeding driver who hit a teenage push-scooter rider, leaving him with serious injuries, tried to cover his tracks by setting the car on fire.

Christopher Marshall-McIntosh, 32, was seen driving his silver Audi A4 at “excessive speed” in Back Lane, Cambourne, at about 8.45pm on Tuesday, 5 March.

He collided with a 15-year-old boy, who was riding a push-scooter, throwing him into the air.

Marshall-McIntosh sped away while the boy was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, in a life threatening condition.

At about 10.20pm, the fire service informed officers they had found the Audi A4 on fire just off Highfields Road, in Highfields Caldecote. 

Marshall-McIntosh handed himself in at Parkside Police Station at about 9.20am the following morning (Wednesday, 6 March).

On July 12, at Cambridge Crown Court, Marshall-McIntosh, of Marshall’s Close, Teversham, was jailed for one year and 11 months, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing serious injury by careless driving and perverting the course of justice.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years and four months. 

In a victim impact statement the victim, who has been left with lasting injuries, said: “The effect the collision has had on my life is huge. I was a hard-working, high achieving 15-year-old with my whole life ahead of me.

“This collision has brought a stop to my childhood and youth.” 

DS Craig Wheeler, of the BCH Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU), said: “Marshall-Mcintosh’s driving and behaviour on the night was absolutely appalling.

“He knew he had struck and seriously injured a child in a completely avoidable collision, caused solely by the poor manner of his driving. He then selfishly fled the scene and tried to cover up what he had done by taking his car to a remote area in Caldicote and setting it on fire.

“Thankfully we managed to quickly identify him as the driver, which led to him handing himself into police the next day.

“This collision has left an innocent 15-year-old boy with life changing injuries; I hope he and his family can take some justice from today’s sentence.

“We will not tolerate such appalling behaviour on our roads and I hope this sentence highlights our commitment to pursuing justice for those serious injured on our roads.”

For more on road safety, please see the dedicated pages on the force website.