THIS will be the first time Gavin Dawes goes to jail.

But since 2010 he’s had several run-ins with the police and comes from a well-known Brighton family which as a dynasty of criminal relatives who have paved the way to HMP Lewes before him.

The family name has become associated in Moulsecoomb with crimes ranging from antisocial behaviour to robbery and violence.

Carlo Dawes was jailed for life at the age of 35 in 2012 after murdering a man he found with his wife when he returned home.

He attacked his wife Kayleigh Chessell and her Liverpudlian lover Graeme Pethard in a jealous rage with a vodka bottle before grabbing a kitchen knife in Taunton Road, Bevendean.

He was jailed for a minimum of 15 years and he will be behind bars until at least 2027.

But he had a violent past and had already spent time in jail.

Just months before his younger brother Gary had been jailed as part of a Sussex/Merseyside gang who plotted to burgle houses for the keys to cars parked on their drives before using the vehicles in robberies in Brighton and Worthing in 2010.

They left a trail of clues and were eventually foiled when an eagle-eyed teenager raised the alarm when he spotted a group of masked men approaching a cash delivery van outside Higher Bevendean Post Office in Widdicombe Way, Moulsecoomb.

Gary Dawes, then 26, of Fitzherbert Drive, Brighton, admitted affray and damaging property.

Judge Michael Lawson told him he had a bad record for violence and was “responsible” because he “kicked it off”.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Large numbers of relatives attended the sentencing of Gavin Dawes and Richard Woolgar yesterday, with many of them huddled on the steps outside crying after the sentence had been passed.

The court had heard Dawes had 13 previous convictions for 17 offences including drugs, handling stolen goods and false representation.

When he hit and killed Jonos Sasvari, he was already on bail for another dangerous driving offence in September.

He was stopped for wheel spinning by police at the junction of Montague Place with Eastern Road and thought they could smell cannabis in his car.

But he sped off along St George’s Road.

He stood trial in February, a month after the fatal hit and run, and was found guilty by Brighton magistrates.

Daniel Frier, defending Dawes whose youngest child is less than a year old, said he showed “genuine remorse” and had “absolutely no intention of ever getting behind the wheel of a car again”.

The court previously heard Dawes had symptoms of mental health problems after he experienced “violent and deeply traumatic events” in his young life.

He saw his friend 16-year-old Jay Kensett stabbed to death in Whitehawk in March 1999.

The murder shocked the city and the Crew Club youth centre in Coolham Drive was built in his memory.

Darren Mateer was jailed for life for the killing and ordered to serve at least 14 years.

At the time of Jay’s death Dawes, who was 15 at the time and living in Playden Close, told The Argus of the horrifying moment he watched his friend dying.

He said: “He span around twice. He nearly choked and said ‘I’ve been stabbed’ and then fell over on the floor.”

Woolgar, also from a large Brighton family some of who have links to the Dawes clan, has five previous convictions and a caution for crimes including criminal damage, battery and possession of cannabis.

His defence barrister in this case, Beverley Cherill, said he insisted he was not racing with Dawes but was speeding and did initially stop for police.

Judge Jeremy Gold said his manner of driving suggested he had been racing and also that his car had – to some surprise of the officers – turned up outside Dawes’s former house.

Ms Cherill said Woolgar needed to comply with family court ordered sessions to be able to see his six-week-old child, who is currently in care.

She said he had epilepsy, dyslexia, dyspraxia, anxiety and depression after another of his children died in 2005.

He was battling his cannabis dependency by attending “marijuana anonymous” sessions.

She told how the events which unfolded after Woolgar’s speeding with Dawes have seen his 15-year-old daughter jeered at in school because people think it was her father who killed Mr Sasvari.

Judge Gold said he sympathised with his health concerns but suggested this meant he should not have been driving dangerously.

He said had Woolgar not continued to embark on dangerous driving, he may have been able to consider other sentencing options.