Father and son who killed four-year-old boy in deliberate car ramming jailed

An “angry” driver and his passenger who killed a four-year-old boy and paralysed his father in a deliberate ramming of the family’s car at around 60mph have been jailed.

Driver Owen Maughan, 27, and his father, front seat passenger Patrick Maughan, 54, were sentenced on Wednesday to more than 12 years and 18 years respectively for the manslaughter of Peter Maughan.

The pair, of Hill Rise in Darenth, Kent, were also sentenced for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Peter’s father, Lovell Mahon, who was driving the family car and suffered serious injuries including a skull fracture and will never walk again.

Peter was thrown from the pick-up truck and died of “severe and devastating injuries” to his head, chest and abdomen on June 1 last year in New Barn Road, Dartford, Kent.

Sentencing Owen and Patrick Maughan at Maidstone Crown Court, Judge Oliver Saxby KC said lives had been “irretrievably shattered by what you did” in “selfish” anger.

He told Owen Maughan: “You were angry he had not stopped and wanted to teach him a lesson.

“This was no ‘nudge’ as you claimed in evidence.

“You were never going to stop, you didn’t care what happened to Lovell Mahon and his family. ‘We don’t give a f***’, as you had put it.”

The pair were cleared of murder after a trial last month.

Owen Maughan had previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Peter, who was his cousin’s son, while the jury convicted Patrick Maughan of manslaughter.

Jurors had heard the pair had been drinking in Rochester earlier that day, and had about 12 bottles of beer and 13 pints respectively, before they began driving their Ford Ranger pick-up truck home.

They came across a similar vehicle and pulled up alongside it before there was shouting between the two cars, with Owen and Patrick Maughan “terrorising” and “chasing” the other car along the A2 in Kent for several miles.

Owen Maughan drove into the wrong lane on the approach to a blind bend and clipped the Ford pick-up truck at about 60mph, and the car rolled over three times, the court heard.

Peter was in the back of the car with his one-year-old sister Annarica Mahon, while their mother Hayley, Owen Maughan’s cousin, was in the front passenger seat next to Mr Mahon.

Ms Maughan saw Peter face down in the grass and screamed for help, the trial heard.

She told officers the family were on their way home “happy, laughing, joking”, having been to McDonald’s, and were driving around to get the children to sleep before the crash.

In a victim impact statement read to the court on Wednesday, Ms Maughan said the family had the “best life” before the incident happened but now they are a family “surviving, not living”.

She described Peter as her “other half”, always together, and a “happy boy”.

“His favourite place in the world was school, he was very popular at school,” the 24-year-old said.

“Peter didn’t get to start his life. He didn’t get to go to school on a school trip. He didn’t even get to learn to read.

“Peter made me who I was, I had him when I was 18 and now he’s gone I’m nothing.”

She added that on the day of the “horror”, Peter’s packed lunch for school the next day was ready in the fridge and his shoes were by the door.

Addressing Owen and Patrick Maughan, her statement said: “Those responsible have left our family broken”, adding: “You’ve taken away my baby.”

Giving evidence during the trial, Owen Maughan told jurors he did not know there were children in the other car, but on Wednesday Judge Saxby said he told a number of lies in his evidence and added: “He had.”

Owen Maughan also said he believed he and Mr Mahon were going to fight after arguing between the cars, and he decided to “nudge” or dent the side of Mr Mahon’s car so he would stop and get out.

After the crash, Owen and Patrick Maughan drove off and paused for Patrick Maughan to pull the registration plate off the truck.

The court heard that Mr Mahon and Owen Maughan had never met and the latter did not associate with his cousin Hayley.

A statement read to court from Mr Mahon described how hard it was living each day without his son and in a wheelchair.

“Life will never be the same,” he said.

“The death of Peter has broken me, he was too good for this world. When I found out he was gone words can’t even describe it.

“I can’t even get to see Peter at his grave because of the bumps.”

He said his rehabilitation is a “full-time job” and Ms Maughan added that as soon as that “horrible” day happened, she became a nurse.

In her statement she said Mr Mahon now has bad anxiety and paranoia, including panicking if someone drives too close to them.