Hit-and-run driver, 38, is jailed for four and a half years after killing motorcyclist, 63, while trying to undertake him at 100mph on the M11

• Daniel Tilley was driving home from a night shift around 5am at Stansted Airport
• He attempted to get past 63-year-old Steve Lord who was driving his motorbike
• Tilley, 38, manoeuvred his Ford Focus into the middle lane to undertake Mr Lord

Daniel Tilley, admitted causing Mr Lord’s death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. He was jailed for four years and six months and banned from driving for 57 months

A hit-and-run driver has been jailed for four and a half years after killing a motorcyclist while trying to undertake him at 100pmh on the M11.

Daniel Tilley, 38, was driving home from a night shift at Stansted Airport when he tried to get past 63-year-old grandfather Steve Lord who was driving his Suzuki bike to work along the M11, near Stansted.

Mr Lord was travelling in the fast lane when Tilley manoeuvred his Ford Focus into the middle lane to undertake him and crashed into his bike as he pulled back into the fast lane.

Prosecutor Peter Gair told Chelmsford Crown Court the crash on January 16 this year caused Mr Lord to lose control of his motorbike but that Tilley failed to stop.

It happened in darkness at around 5am and in wet conditions, he added.

Mr Lord fell onto the carriageway, his momentum carried him into the crash barrier and he died at the scene of multiple injuries.

Tilley was arrested by police the following day after they viewed footage from dashcams and number plate recognition cameras, but he claimed he was unaware he had been involved in an accident.

Mr Lord’s daughter Claire Ball told the court: ‘My boys have been robbed of a life with their grandad.’

Mr Gair said Tilley’s car had a dent to the rear offside door consistent with colliding with the clutch pedal of the motorbike and witnesses had seen his car ‘fishtail’ after the impact.

Police found Tilley had carried out online searches after the crash including for ‘M11 accident’ and ‘strong suction plungers’, which Mr Gair said ‘would be the sort of tool whereby you could carry out a repair on a car with dents’.

Tilley admitted causing Mr Lord’s death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Judge Jonathan Seely told Tilley it was a ‘dangerous and highly selfish act to choose to drive in that way’.

‘Whether it was an absurd act of bravado to try to show you’re faster than the motorcyclist or to try to get him out of the way to drive at even greater speeds, whatever the reason for your choosing to drive that way the court will never know,’ he said.

Tilley’s damaged car (pictured) after he tried to undertake Mr Lord and crashed into his bike as he pulled back into the fast lane

Tilley, of Harlow, also admitted failing to stop at the scene and failing to report the crash to police within 24 hours.

He was jailed for four years and six months and banned from driving for 57 months.

Mr Lord’s daughter Claire Ball told the court: ‘My boys have been robbed of a life with their grandad.’

Matthew Morgan, mitigating, said Tilley, who is father to a five-year-old daughter, apologised ‘unreservedly’ for his actions.

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