NEWPORT MAN ADMITS HIT-AND-RUN WITH MODIFIED ELECTRIC MOTORBIKE

Jordan Willetts, from Newport, has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence, and failing to stop following a collision on Fairoak Avenue in Newport last November. Willetts struck pedestrian Sam Bevan while riding an electric motorbike the wrong way down a one-way street. Bevan was knocked unconscious and lay face down in the road for around five minutes before neighbours discovered him. The collision left Bevan with severe concussion and cuts to his face.

Bevan said he had no recollection of the crash and only learned what had happened when a neighbour showed him CCTV footage of the incident. Willetts handed himself in to police two days after the crash. Prosecutors told Newport Magistrates' Court that he had done so "eventually." The electric motorbike involved had originally been a push bike that was subsequently modified, a fact police confirmed after seizing the vehicle.

Willetts was disqualified from driving pending sentencing. Speaking outside court, Willetts told reporters he was sorry and pointed to his decision to hand himself in as evidence of that remorse. His father described the incident as a mistake. Bevan said he was particularly angered by the hit-and-run element of the crash, stating the driver had shown disrespect by not checking on him, and confirmed he remains unable to drive.