Essex Police release custody image of jailed Canvey driver

Joshua Claydon, 20, of Orrmo Road in Canvey, was driving on the A13 Pitsea flyover on July 1, 2023, when he crashed his vehicle, killing 18-year-old passenger Ellie Jo Evers and leaving three others with serious injuries. Witnesses driving close to the scene reported Claydon speeding and driving erratically weaving between vehicles. Custody - Joshua Claydon was sentenced to more than six years in prison (Image: Essex Police)

He crashed while driving at 81mph on the London-bound A13, trying to undertake a white transit van on the Pitsea flyover in a manner of driving described as "showing off" during his sentencing earlier this month. Claydon appeared at Basildon Crown Court on September 10 and pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving and three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Tragic - Floral tributes near the scene on the A13 Pitsea flyover (Image: Newsquest)

At the same court on October 6, he was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, and was disqualified from driving for five years. His friend Ellie Jo Evers, from Benfleet, was pronounced dead at the scene following the incident. A male passenger was left permanently paralysed from the waist down, requiring four carer visits per day.

Claydon, who was carrying four passengers in his vehicle at the time of the crash, himself was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries and had to be put on a ventilator. His passengers described him as a "fast and reckless" driver, "erratically" pulling in and out of traffic, speeding up and then "skidding" to a halt. Claydon told police he was "devastated" by what had happened.

During his sentencing, Judge Samantha Cohen accepted he had been "irrevocably changed" by the incident and demonstrated "genuine and heartfelt remorse". Beloved - Ellie Jo Evers died at the scene (Image: Essex Police) In a deeply emotional statement following his sentencing, Ellie's family felt "a sense of injustice for Ellie and the other victims".

They said: "What we all long for is the return of Ellie and this we are forever denied. "It has taken over two years and three months from the date of losing Ellie to reach the sentencing hearing. "It is not lost on us that this is almost the equivalent of the minimum custodial sentence handed down.

"As we listened to the original police interviews read aloud, where the driver denied any wrongdoing on two occasions, only to go on to receive credit for an early guilty plea, we could not help but feel a sense of injustice for Ellie and the other victims."