Dylan Price's mum was told 'pack of lies' by jailed man

David Brown, 61 and of Oak Meadow in Bishop’s Castle, was sent down for 15 months for two offences of conveying false information at Shrewsbury Crown Court – sitting in Telford – by Judge Laura Hobson.

The court heard that in November 2022, he pleaded guilty to sending Facebook messages to Louise and Steve Bristow – Dylan’s mum and step-dad – claiming first that he had information concerning his death before then claiming to be the driver that killed him.

Dylan died after being hit by a car in the early hours of the morning on September 19, 2021, the day before his 18th birthday. The driver has never been identified.

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Judge Hobson heard that Brown contacted Mr Bristow via Facebook claiming to be ‘John Thomas’ and sent the ‘painful’ messages and said he would not co-operate with police despite being urged to.

He continued the charade when Mrs Bristow – who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer – contacted him to ask him to go to the police with the information they had, and he continued to refuse.

Despite her requests for answers, Brown continued to insist he was the driver who had killed Dylan.

The prosecution read out victim impact statements from Mr and Mrs Bristow,  who both called Brown ‘a disgrace, disgusting and that his messages added to the turmoil of our lives’.

Mrs Bristow added that her anxiety meant she could not trust people and any return to Bishop’s Castle to see Dylan’s sisters left her feeling like "people were looking at us".

She added: “He is disgusting – I feel broken.”

Suzanne Francis, representing Brown, began her mitigation telling the court that ‘anything I say or put forward is not to meant to diminish the pain felt by the Bristows’.

Dylan Price (Image: Price family)

She said that her client ‘now had some acceptance that he carried these offences out’ but said that he insisted he was drunk.

Ms Francis highlighted an early guilty plea but also admitted that his unsuccessful bid to change his plea at Chester Crown Court in May removed much of that.

She highlighted that he was vital to his family’s wellbeing.

Sentencing him, Judge Hobson reduced his sentence by half to reflect his plea and mitigation and jailed him for 15 months for each count to run concurrently. He will serve half on licence.

She said: “In September 2021, the Bristows lost their son and their pain was made acute by Mrs Bristow’s own health and that the person responsible was never found.

“You made this pain worse. You contacted them over Facebook and it went over a few days and it was a pack of lies.

“A man had lost his stepson and wanted to know how he died and you strung him along.

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“Mrs Bristow contacted you and you carried the deception on, even when she said she had her own bad news.

“You said you can’t remember this because you were drunk but this wasn’t a one-off – it was calculated behaviour.”

Brown was also given a restraining order for 10 years stating he must not contact his victims in any way.