CCTV footage showed Keaton Muldoon’s Land Rover Discovery following two e-bikes before ramming one of them, causing the rider and the passenger to fall off
A man who killed a mum and left her boyfriend needing his leg amputated after knocking them off an e-bike in a hit and run has been jailed.
Keaton Muldoon faced trial over the murder of 25-year-old Alana Armstrong – who died at the scene in Pleasley, Derbyshire – but was found not guilty by a jury at Derby Crown Court. He was also cleared of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Armstrong’s boyfriend Jordan Newton-Kay, who had his right leg amputated 15cm above the knee after the crash.
Muldon, 23, had already pleaded pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving before his trial began in May and today has been sentenced to five years and three months. He was also banned from driving for 12 and half years.
Derbyshire Police said CCTV footage showed his car following two e-bikes before ramming one of the bikes, causing the rider and the passenger to fall off. The car then drove off from the scene without stopping
Muldoon, who the court heard was a drug dealer, told the jury of 11 women and one man on Tuesday that he “did not know” he had hit anyone while driving his Land Rover Discovery on the evening of November 26 last year, and thought he had overtaken Mr Newton-Kay’s bike at a passing point.
The prosecution alleged that Muldoon “pursued” the couple, and another electric bike ridden by a friend of Mr Newton-Kay, after they stopped near the defendant’s 4×4 at a lay-by.
The defendant told the court he feared he was going to be robbed but did not “chase” the Sur-Ron off-road bike for more than a mile from the lay-by.
Muldoon, who was father to a newborn baby at the time of the collision, told the court he lied to police that his uncle had possession of the Land Rover at the time of the collision because he was “scared” about the murder investigation.
He told the jury earlier this week: “My head was all over, I didn’t know what to think. I knew I wasn’t going to see my children for a bit. I just had a newborn baby. I promised I would always be there.”
Det Con Stevie Barker, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said after the trial: “Alana was just 25 when she died, leaving her son without his mum, and her family grieving the loss of a young woman who had so much life ahead of her.
“The consequences of Muldoon’s behaviour on that night have led to the death of Alana and a lifetime of grief for her family. In addition, Jordan, the rider of the bike, also suffered life-changing injuries.
“He then didn’t even have the decency to admit what he had done in interview, instead trying to put the blame on someone else. It was months later before he accepted that he was the driver of the vehicle.”
