Father and son who killed their cousin’s four-year-old by ramming truck off the road are jailed
By ROBERT FOLKER, NEWS REPORTER[1]
Published: 20:26, 25 March 2026 | Updated: 20:30, 25 March 2026
An 'angry' drink-driver and his passenger, who killed their four-year-old cousin and paralysed his father in a deliberate ramming of the family's car at around 60mph have been jailed.
Peter Maughan died after suffering severe and devastating injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
He was thrown from a pick-up truck on the A2 in Kent just before 9.30pm on June 1 last year.
Driver Owen Maughan, 27, and his father, front seat passenger Patrick Maughan, 54, were sentenced on Wednesday to more than 12 years and 18 years respectively for the manslaughter of Peter Maughan.
The pair, of Hill Rise in Darenth, Kent, were also sentenced for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Peter's father, Lovell Mahon, who was driving the family car and suffered serious injuries including a skull fracture and will never walk again.
Footage released by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the father and son - who drank 25 bottles and pints of lager between them before the fatal crash[2] - chasing down the car Peter was in, along with his mother Hayley Maughan, father Lovell Mahon and one-year-old sister Annarica Maughan.
The court previously heard that Owen, Hayley's cousin, and his father were racing after the family in 'fury'.
He was accused of using his truck as a weapon while being actively encouraged by his father to do so.
Four-year-old Peter Maughan was killed when he was thrown from the Ford Ranger Wildtrak as it rolled off the road
Lovell Mahon (right, pictured with his late son Peter) suffered multiple fractures and brain trauma in the crash, leaving him unlikely to walk again
Driver Owen Maughan, 27, and his father, front seat passenger Patrick Maughan, 54, (pictured together) were sentenced on Wednesday to more than 12 years and 18 years respectively for the manslaughter of Peter Maughan
In the footage, a man can be heard shouting 'pull in then' followed by another clip of Hayley Maughan saying 'please watch this, look he's still doing it'.
The drivers could be heard screaming at each other as they travel along the A2 in Kent, with one saying to the other he would fight him, adding 'give me one minute'.
Sentencing Owen and Patrick Maughan at Maidstone Crown Court, Judge Oliver Saxby KC said lives had been 'irretrievably shattered by what you did' in 'selfish' anger.
He told Owen Maughan: 'You were angry he had not stopped and wanted to teach him a lesson.
'This was no "nudge" as you claimed in evidence.
'You were never going to stop, you didn't care what happened to Lovell Mahon and his family.
'We don't give a f***', as you had put it.'
The pair were cleared of murder after a trial last month.
The CPS also released dashcam footage from another vehicle showing the two pick-up trucks levelling up along the motorway at the time of the argument.
The victims' vehicle manages to accelerate away before the father and son catch up with them.
Owen Maughan had previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Peter, who was his cousin's son, while the jury convicted Patrick Maughan of manslaughter.
Pictured: Hayley Maughan and Lovell Mahon and their children Peter and then-one-year-old sister Annarica Maughan
Lovell Mahon (pictured in the green t-shirt) was paralysed in the crash and may never walk again
Pictured: Both pick-up trucks drive side by side on the A2 in Kent, moments before the fatal collision which killed four-year-old Peter Maughan
Jurors had heard the pair had been drinking in Rochester earlier that day, and had about 12 bottles of beer and 13 pints respectively, before they began driving their Ford Ranger pick-up truck home.
During the three-week trial, the court heard Owen Maughan had pulled on to the wrong side of the road when he rammed the rear offside of Mr Mahon's truck with the front nearside of his vehicle.
The impact caused the vehicle to rotate out of control and then roll up to three times.
Peter, who was affectionately known by loved ones as Peter Rabbit, was thrown out of the truck from his rear seat and died from what were described as 'severe and devastating' head, chest and abdomen injuries.
The jury heard the injuries were unsurvivable, even with immediate medical care, and some bore characteristics reminiscent of tyre tread marks - possibly consistent with being run over or crushed during roll-over.
His father was also ejected from the Ranger and sustained multiple fractures and brain trauma, leaving him in a wheelchair and unlikely to walk again.
Miraculously, the court was told, Hayley and her daughter escaped with minor injuries.
At the time of the pursuit and subsequent collision, the family of four was heading home to Southfleet following a visit to Pepe's restaurant in Maidstone.
Owen and Patrick Maughan were also on their way home to Darenth in Kent after a six-hour drinking session in Rochester, during which they downed as many as 25 bottles and pints of lager between them.
Patrick Maughan, 54, pictured outside court in February, wa sentenced on Wednesday to more than 12 years in jail
Owen Maughan accepted responsibility for Peter Maughan's death in the high-speed hit-and-run on June 1 last year and has been jailed for 18 years
Jurors heard it was by chance that the parties' paths crossed that evening and the reason for trouble to erupt within the space of six minutes still remained unclear.
Although the families had not spoken for years, there was no ongoing feud, and a disagreement between Hayley Maughan and Owen's sister Nicole Maughan at the school gates a few weeks earlier had been resolved, it was said.
In the case of Patrick Maughan, the jury was told the issues to consider were encouragement and intent.
Evidence at trial included video and audio recordings made by Hayley herself on her phone of her family being allegedly 'harassed and terrified' for several minutes by the defendants along the A2 from Cobham until the Pepperhill junction at Northfleet.
Lorry dashcam footage also captured about three minutes of the chase, showing the vehicles changing lanes, braking heavily and pulling up alongside each other.
The clips filmed by a frightened Hayley Maughan on WhatsApp showed the Maughans's vehicle closely on their tail as well as aggressive exchanges through the Ranger windows.
She then sent the footage and voicenotes to her mother, providing a running commentary and detailing her panic and fear.
Later, when she spoke to police, she described Patrick Maughan as being red in the face, 'revving up' his son 'like a volcano ready to explode' and making the situation '10 times worse'.
She said she could see him 'frothing' at the mouth and Owen Maughan biting his tongue 'in temper'.
She told officers: 'We were in fear for our lives. We begged them, we told them that, it's on video camera. We told them that the children were in the motor.
'It wasn't an accident.
They knew what they were doing. They had enough time to think.'
The court heard that it was just a few seconds after she filmed her husband shouting 'children in this motor' to the Maughans as the vehicles pulled alongside each other at the Pepperhill junction that the fatal crash occurred.
But, instead of pulling over to help, the defendants sped off from 'the carnage they had created', said the prosecution, driving through debris scattered in the road and with a child's pushchair that had fallen from the rear of the rammed truck wedged under their chassis.
They headed towards Longfield, stopping briefly so Patrick Maughan could rip off the front number plate in what was alleged to be a bid to cover their tracks.
The pair then continued for several miles to Plantation Road in Hextable where they abandoned their Ranger, visibly damaged to the front nearside and still with the buggy jammed underneath.
Owen, a builder by trade with no previous convictions, fled to Manchester while his father went to his sister's in Berkshire.
Both were arrested within two days. Owen returned to Kent to hand himself in to police on June 2 while Patrick was detained on June 3 after he was found by officers in bed, heavily intoxicated.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Wednesday, Ms Maughan said the family had the 'best life' before the incident happened but now they are a family 'surviving, not living'.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Wednesday, Ms Maughan described Peter as her 'other half', always together, and a 'happy boy'
Peter's father Lovell Mahon suffered multiple fractures and brain trauma in the collision, leaving him in a wheelchair and unlikely to walk again
Tributes were left beside the A2 near Gravesend in Kent following the tragedy on June 1, 2025
She described Peter as her 'other half', always together, and a 'happy boy'.
'His favourite place in the world was school, he was very popular at school,' the 24-year-old said.
'Peter didn't get to start his life.
He didn't get to go to school on a school trip.
He didn't even get to learn to read.
'Peter made me who I was, I had him when I was 18 and now he's gone I'm nothing.'
She added that on the day of the 'horror', Peter's packed lunch for school the next day was ready in the fridge and his shoes were by the door.
Addressing Owen and Patrick Maughan, her statement said: 'Those responsible have left our family broken', adding: 'You've taken away my baby.'
Giving evidence during the trial, Owen Maughan told jurors he did not know there were children in the other car, but on Wednesday Judge Saxby said he told a number of lies in his evidence and added: 'He had.'
Owen Maughan also said he believed he and Mr Mahon were going to fight after arguing between the cars, and he decided to 'nudge' or dent the side of Mr Mahon's car so he would stop and get out.
After the crash, Owen and Patrick Maughan drove off and paused for Patrick Maughan to pull the registration plate off the truck.
A statement read to court from Mr Mahon described how hard it was living each day without his son and in a wheelchair.
'Life will never be the same,' he said.
'The death of Peter has broken me, he was too good for this world.
When I found out he was gone words can't even describe it.
'I can't even get to see Peter at his grave because of the bumps.'
He said his rehabilitation is a 'full-time job' and Ms Maughan added that as soon as that 'horrible' day happened, she became a nurse.
In her statement she said Mr Mahon now has bad anxiety and paranoia, including panicking if someone drives too close to them.
References
- ^ ROBERT FOLKER, NEWS REPORTER (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ 25 bottles and pints of lager between them before the fatal crash (www.dailymail.co.uk)