Homeless man led police on chase in stolen £40,000 BMW
A homeless man who led police on a high-speed chase at the wheel of a stolen £40,000 BMW has been jailed for nine months.
A patrol car with an automatic registration number reader on board saw the M4 pass in the opposite direction in Kingswinford at 9pm on March 4, a judge heard.
Within seconds the crew realised it was stolen, made a U turn and followed it down Himley Road towards Milking Bank, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Steven Timmins ignored the siren and flashing lights ordering him to stop and accelerated into the distance while hitting 80 mph in a 30 limit as he headed towards Dudley, explained Mr Ian Ball, prosecuting.
But the BMW smashed into the kerb, badly damaging a wheel while turning into Stafford Street and was forced to slow down.
Timmins quickly lost control and abandoned the car after it crashed into street furniture. He was caught after a foot chase when he fell off a wall he was trying to climb, continued Mr Ball.
The M4 and a BMW 330 diesel had both been stolen within 30 minutes of each other from the driveway of the owner’s Gornal home earlier the same day.
The 38-year-old defendant was sleeping rough at the time after his life spiralled out of control, the court heard.
Over the previous two years the father of three had lost his job, been left by his partner and had fallen out with his father who ordered him out of the house where he had been staying since being jilted, said Mr Richard McConaghy, defending.
Then the defendant accepted a small amount of money to drive a stolen car before making things ‘immeasurably worse’ by not stopping when told to by the police, maintained the lawyer.
Timmins, now of Wood Road, Lower Gornal, admitted dangerous driving and handling stolen property. He was jailed and banned from driving for two years on his release by Judge Simon Ward who told him:
“Your life had gone off the rails and you have committed several offences over the past two years. On this occasion you gave in to temptation when offered a small amount of money. I recognise your life had hit a very low ebb but this was a case of very bad driving."
