Jailed: Dudley driver hit double the speed limit without lights in night chase
A Dudley driver who sped through residential streets in a stolen car at twice the speed limit and without lights in the middle of the night has been jailed for eight months.
Christopher Edwards was seen speeding along Stourbridge Road, by a police patrol at 11.20pm on April 26, a judge heard.
The 30-year-old spotted he was being tailed soon afterwards and careered into the distance in a puff of smoke, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
“He realised the police were following him, put his foot on the accelerator and quickly drove away at far in excess of the 40mph limit,” said Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.
The Ford Fiesta went past Russells Hall Hospital before turning into residential streets where Edwards turned off the vehicle’s lights and careered down Tennyson Road and other streets at twice the 30mph limit.
The chase soon became so hazardous the pursuing police car gave up in nearby Chapel Street because of the danger it presented for other road users, the court heard.
But a police helicopter saw the speeding Fiesta stop at a house in Fairgreen Gardens, and alerted crews on the ground.
Another patrol was close to the address and followed the Fiesta onto the driveway. Edwards tried to push it out of the way with the car he had been driving but gave up after being blocked in bumper-to-bumper.
He was arrested and co-operated with the officers as inquiries revealed the Fiesta had been stolen four months earlier.
It was unclear how Edwards got hold of the vehicle but he did not face any charges in connection with the theft of the vehicle, the court heard.
Mrs Kam Shergill, defending, said Edwards drove away from the police because he did not have a valid driving licence.
“He panicked and the situation spiralled out of control. He is filled with remorse,” she said.
Edwards, of Malvern Crescent, Holly Hall, Dudley, who had four previous convictions, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and having neither licence nor insurance.
He was given an eight-month prison term, banned from driving for three years and will then have to pass an extended test before being allowed back behind the wheel.
Judge Barry Berlin told Edwards: “You went so quickly and drove so dangerously that air support was required. Anybody racing around in such a way that police cars have to be deployed to stop them causing mayhem, should expect a custodial sentence.”
