A father and daughter have been jailed after attempting to cover up a drink-driving crash.

The pair were sentenced to prison for perverting the course of justice following a car crash in Gander Green Lane, Sutton, on May 29, last year.

According to police Mark Edwards, 53, of Bourne Way, Sutton, was driving a BMW that smashed into a parked Vauxhall Vectra.

When the Vauxhall’s owner came out of a nearby home he saw Edwards get out of the driver’s seat and say, “Sorry, don’t call the police”.

The witness said nobody else got out of the BMW, nor were there any other passengers.

A spokesman for Sutton police said: “Police arrived and a member of the public handed over Edwards’s keys, which had been taken from his vehicle to prevent him driving away.

“Edwards admitted he had been driving and that he was the only person in the vehicle.”

When questioned by police, officers said Edwards’s story changed, claiming that someone else had been driving.

However he refused to say who until he had contacted them.

Following his release on bail Edwards returned to Sutton police station with his daughter Natalie Edwards, 30, of Vanston Place, who claimed she had collected her father after he had been drinking in a pub, but crashed the car on their way home.

She said she then panicked and fled.

She denied that her father had forced her to say she was driving the car.

Forensic results showed Edwards had been driving while 2.5 times over the legal limit.

The pair were sentenced on Tuesday, April 14, at Croydon Crown Court, after they admitted concocting the tale.

Edwards was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice.

He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £100.

He also admitted to charges of drink-driving and driving without due care and attention.

His licence was endorsed and he was disqualified from driving for 18 months.

His daughter was sentenced to five months in jail after she pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

She was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80.