Drink driver who phoned cops moments after fatal crash to claim her car had been stolen is jailed for more than four years
Maria Sutton begins her prison stint after tragic death of doctor Graham Ruecroft
A DRUNK driver has been jailed for killing a doctor when she knocked him off his bike and left him for dead.
Maria Sutton told cops her car had been stolen hours after running down 54-year-old cyclist Graham Ruecroft - and driving off without phoning for an ambulance.
Today she begins her four-year stint in prison after her actions were described as "unforgivable".
Detectives investigating the hit-and-run said Dr Ruecroft could have survived the collision if he had been given help straight away, but instead died in hospital from his injuries five days later.
The 28-year-old spent the evening drinking in a pub to cover her tracks.
The chilling phone call she made to police to report her car as stolen was made from the car park close to the scene.
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Sergeant Gavin Collier of Thames Valley Police's Serious Collision
Investigation Unit, said: "These are such tragic circumstances where a life has been needlessly taken.
"The actions taken by Maria Sutton during this investigation in an attempt to avoid responsibility and those not taken immediately following it, I find unforgivable.
"Not only did she knock Graham Ruecroft from his bicycle that evening, but then having momentarily stopped she chose to drive off and report her car stolen rather than to try to help him.
"Miss Sutton abandoned Mr Ruecroft when he needed her help the most. By driving off she left him where he lay in the road for someone else to find.
"We will never know if she had stopped and tried to help, if Mr Ruecroft would still be alive today."
Gavin Hernandez, District Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service, added:
"This was a tragic waste of a life and one which could have been avoided.
"Sutton had been drinking, failed to stop and fled the scene, making no attempt to contact emergency services. Passing motorists stopped and Graham was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, where he died of a head injury on June 9.
"At just after 11pm on the night of the incident, in an attempt to conceal her involvement, Sutton reported her vehicle stolen from the Red Lion pub in Cholsey, where she had spent the evening drinking.
It was subsequently located just after midnight a short distance from her home address."
He added: "We have worked closely with Thames Valley Police since this investigation was launched and as a result of the hard work and diligence of the prosecution team, a just outcome has been achieved.
"We hope that the conviction and today's sentence will in some way help Dr Ruecroft's family and friends come to terms with this tragic event. Our thoughts are very much with them at this time."
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The 28-year-old further blocked the police investigation by answering "no comment" to all questions put to her while being interviewed by detectives.
She later admitted causing death by driving without due care and attention whilst being over the prescribed alcohol limit and perverting the course of justice, and was jailed for four years and one month.
The tragedy happened at 10.15pm on June 4 last year, as Dr Ruecroft cycled home from a nearby railway station.
He was struck from behind by Sutton's black Kia Cee'd on Wallingford Road, Cholsey, Oxon., and knocked onto a footpath, sustaining serious head injuries.
Sutton stopped but drove away without calling for an ambulance. Instead passers-by stopped to help him and he was rushed to hospital, where he died on June 9.
Malcolm Ruecroft said his brother could "never be replaced".
He added: "I hope Maria Sutton will use her time in custody to reflect on her actions and understand that she has robbed a family of a loving and considerate individual whose life was cut short during a moment of stupidity caused by the effects of alcohol.
"We will never know for sure but I firmly believe that if prompt action had occurred that night the consequences may have been less severe and we may not be mourning a professional who not only had contributed considerably to the field of chemistry but still had a lot to offer this and also the field of pharmaceutical drugs."
He added: "We can now move forward with our lives unfortunately without Graham, but we will think of him always."
Suspicious officers found her car a short while later near her home and started to piece together her movements since she left the Red Lion in Cholsey earlier that night.
Debris left at the scene, witness statements, CCTV, expert and forensic evidence identified Sutton as the driver of her vehicle when it hit Dr Ruecroft - and that she had been driving while twice the legal drink-drive limit.
Sutton, of Newlands Way in Cholsey, Oxon., was arrested the day after the crash, when Dr Ruecroft was still alive.
Despite answering no comment during the initial police interviews, she later admitted her guilt.
In a letter to the court, Sutton said she was sorry for her "stupid, awful mistake and added: "If I could turn back time and make everything okay for them I would.
"Every day I relive that night, the panic, the shock, the pain and the things I should have done differently.
"I have destroyed so many lives."
Today she was beginning a jail sentence imposed by a judge at Oxford Crown Court, of 35 months for causing death by driving without due care and attention whilst over being over the prescribed alcohol limit and given a consecutive 14 months sentence for perverting the course of justice.
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