Drink-driver who led police on 100mph chase down A50 avoids prison
A young motorist who led police on a high-speed chase down the M1 and A50 while more than twice the drink-drive limit has escaped immediate custody. Derby Crown Court heard how during the pursuit, Johnny Connors rammed two police cars, topped 100mph and cut dangerously in front of an HGV narrowly avoiding a collision.
The 20-year-old only came to a halt, near Alvaston, when he went the wrong way around a traffic island and was boxed in by officers. And he then failed to appear in court after going, what the judge called, “on the run” for a number of months.
Handing Connors a 15-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “Miss Pitman (Connors’ barrister) has referred to what you have experienced (in custody for the past three months) as a short, sharp shock and that’s a phrase I have not heard on a long time. This is a serious case of dangerous driving and you richly deserve to go back to custody but I have got to be realistic.
“It’s a high-speed chase and it was a determined effort to get away from the police and you’re way over the (drink-drive) limit. On a generous reading you’re two-and-a-half times over and on a less generous one it’s nearly three times the limit.”
Almas Ben-Aribia, prosecuting, said the offence took place in late 2021. She said a blue Vauxhall Astra being driven by the defendant was spotted on the M1 southbound at junction 28, near Alfreton, and a police car followed it.
The prosecutor said: “He exited at Trowell services but immediately went back onto the motorway. He then proceeded to drive at speeds of over 100mph. He then exited the motorway again before turning back onto it a second time, cutting across a chevron area in front of an HGV.
“He then rammed the back of a police car, causing damage to the bumper, and exited again at junctions 24a and onto the A50. almost causing contact with another vehicle. He tried to force his way off at a slip road and took a sharp right towards a traffic island at Thulston, entering it and driving around it the wrong way.
“There he was forced to stop and rammed a second police car.” Miss Ben-Aribia said a roadside breath test saw the defendant give a reading of 89 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 and at the police station he blew even higher readings of 99 and 97.
Connors, formerly of Creswell Road, Chesterfield, and now of Woodside Caravan Park, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, drink-driving, driving without a valid licence and driving without insurance. He also admitted possession of a knuckle duster from an earlier occasion unrelated to the driving offence.
Laura Pitman, mitigating, said her client left school at the age of 14 and has been doing work such as scrap collecting or gardening. She said: “He has had a difficult time in custody surrounded by older people with a more significant antecedent history.
“He is supported in court by his mother and it is 17 months since this offence and there have been no further convictions and that is really important.”
As part of the suspended sentence, Judge Smith handed the defendant a six-month curfew, confining him to his home address each evening between 7pm and 7am. He ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and to attend 15 rehabilitation sessions. He also disqualified him from driving for three years.
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References
- ^ Machete thug and mate who terrified Derbion shoppers sent to jail (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
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