A driver who ran away after a crash that left two people in hospital was identified by blood and skin he left at the scene.

Dean Beeching, 31, drove through a red light and ploughed straight into the side of a taxi on one of the main roads between Hucknall and Nottingham city centre. He was then seen walking away from the scene.

The driver of the taxi, a man in his 40s, suffered serious injuries in the crash and was rushed to hospital. His female passenger was also hurt.

The collision happened at the junction of Hucknall Road and Arnold Road near Nottingham City Hospital in the early hours of 22 July 2018.

Beeching was not the registered keeper of the car but forensic investigations revealed that it was he who was driving at the time of the crash.

Crime scene investigators found his blood on an exterior window and a skin sample on the interior of the smashed windscreen – deposited when Beeching was thrust forward in the impact.

Beeching, who has previous convictions for burglary, violence and driving offences, was listed as wanted and eventually handed himself in at a police station on 12 February 2019.

During his police interview he declined to answer any of the questions asked of him about the crash.

Forensic collision investigators were unable to establish how fast he was travelling at the time of the crash, but dashcam footage recorded near the scene proved he had passed through a red light.

Beeching, of Mendip Court, Beeston, initially denied a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving but changed his plea to guilty before the case got to trial.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court last Wednesday (30 March) he was jailed for a total of three-and-a-half years - 13 months for the driving offence and 29 months for unrelated drug dealing offences in Derbyshire.

Collision investigator Sophie Law said: "Beeching caused very significant injures as a result of his reckless driving but showed absolutely no concern for his victims.

"Instead he left them at the scene of a terrible accident he had caused and continually refused to face up to what he had done.

"In the end it was the exemplary work of our crime scene investigators that allowed justice to catch up with Beeching and made this sentencing possible.

"By forensically linking him to the scene they could prove beyond doubt that it was he who was driving at the time of the crash and he who was seen walking away from the scene.

"I hope today's sentencing brings some degree of comfort to his victims, who must each live with the impact of Beeching's actions for the rest of their lives."