Unlicensed Sheffield driver crashed into ditch after police

Joe Boughton, aged 21, of Crofters Close, Killamarsh, has been jailed after a dramatic six-minute police chase in Edlington, Doncaster, when officers discovered he was driving without insurance or an MOT.

When Boughton spotted the police he sped up in the Renault Laguna, Beverley Tait, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court.

She said: “He started doing 40mph in a 30mph zone, but then he slowed down to 20mph. The police officer said it was as though he was deciding what to do.

“He took the wrong option and continued to drive at speed. He did not stop, despite the blue lights and sirens.

“He drove the wrong way down the road and through a give way line without any thought for who was on the other side.

“At one point, he was driving 80mph in a 40mph zone. The chase came to an end when he went through a T-junction too fast and went flying into a ditch.

“The officer was then able to get him out of the car and arrest him. The whole chase lasted for six minutes.”

Boughton pleaded guilty to dangerous driving during the incident at 11.30pm on May 9 and failing to surrender to bail.

Abigail Langford, defending, said: “He is a young man and although there is little that can be said for what happened, mercifully it was a short chase and no other road users were involved.

“He showed a lack of consequential thinking and panicked when he saw the police. He has never been to prison before.”

She asked Judge Robert Moore QC to consider a suspended sentence, but he refused and sent Boughton to prison for six months.

“Driving dangerously through residential streets trying to flee from the police is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified,” he said.

Boughton was also disqualified from driving for 15 months and ordered to take an extended driving test to get his licence. He must also pay a £150 surcharge.