A MAN who left a 12-year-old girl 'fighting for her life' following a ‘hit-and-run’ lied to the police about his van being stolen while her family was being told she ‘may not survive the night’.

Ethan Davison, of Harrison Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Reading Crown Court this morning (July 15).

The 20-year-old came off the A339 Greenham Road in Newbury and mounted his recovery truck on the pavement when he hit the girl on December 27, 2019.

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According to Portsmouth News, the girl was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford following the collision where she was reported as being in a critical condition.

Defending, Thomas Horder said: “He can’t say why the vehicle departed the road.”

Mr Horder pleaded with Judge Emma Nott to grant Davison bail after suggesting he had complied with police in three interviews in 2020.

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But Judge Nott hit back and claimed Davison had “showed no remorse” for the girl as he had “tried to evade responsibility for what he had done.”

She explained: “He was busy telling the police his van had been stolen at the time when hospital doctors told the family of the girl she would likely not survive the night.”

Davison also pleaded guilty to committing an act with intent to perverting the course of justice in relation to the incident described by Judge Nott.

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Refusing bail, she added: “The offences you have pleaded guilty to are so serious that only a custodial sentence will be appropriate in this case.”

Davison is expected to appear in court again on Friday, September 10 for his sentencing.

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