Drug driver jailed after crashing into 10-year-old causing 'appalling injuries' in Gillingham
He drove through a red light as the young boy was crossing the road
A drug driver who seriously injured a child pedestrian in Gillingham has been jailed.
During the evening of 24 June 2022, Danny Butt was driving his Seat Leon in Woodlands Road in excess of the 30mph speed limit.
He drove through a red traffic light at the junction with Cornwallis Avenue and struck a 10 year old boy who had started to cross the road.
The child suffered serious head injuries and was taken to hospital by air ambulance.
Butt was arrested at the scene and provided a specimen of blood for analysis once in custody.
This later proved he had been driving whilst over the prescribed limit for cannabis and also showed the presence of cocaine.
Butt, of Talma Road, Brixton, London, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court.
The 42 year old was sentenced to three years and 10 months’ imprisonment yesterday (2 February 2025).
On his release from prison he will be disqualified from driving for three years and will have to take an extended retest.
Serious collision investigator, Detective Constable Lee Berridge, said:
'Butt got behind the wheel of a car knowing he was unfit to drive due to his misuse of controlled drugs.
He would have realised he posed a risk to other road users and pedestrians but proceeded, nonetheless, to drive in a very dangerous manner.
Furthermore, Butt intentionally tried to beat a red traffic light and this reckless decision has altered the path of a young child's future.
His victim suffered appalling injuries and is gradually recovering whilst making adjustment to his day to day life and receiving ongoing medical assessments.
Butt is now quite rightly in prison and should be thoroughly ashamed of his actions.'