Gary Madine: Ex-Sheffield United and Wednesday striker sentenced after smashing Range Rover in police chase

Former Sheffield Wednesday and United striker Gary Madine has been handed a suspended prison sentence after crashing his Range Rover in a bid to escape police. The 33-year-old was sentenced to six months, suspended for 18 months, with 250 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month driving ban, after appearing at Newcastle Crown Court.

Madine crashed his Range Rover in his home town of Gateshead early on April 23 this year after being pursued by police. Madine sped down residential roads before smashing his car into a parked Ford Focus at 1.50am. and fleeing the scene. The striker, who left Blackpool at the end of last season, was charged with driving a motor vehicle dangerously, driving in a public place without due care and attention, failing to stop after a road accident, failing to stop when required by a constable or traffic warden, and failing to give information relating to his ID when required.

He pleaded guilty to the charges with solicitor Shaun Routledge pointing to his serious ACL injury as one factor in a “difficult year” of 2023, with “his relationship of some years ending,” Routledge added, “and he suffered a serious injury which led to nine months of rehabilitation and not being able to perform the job he has done for many years. He was feeling very low in April.

“He is keen to get back to his profession, it is dependent on full recovery from the injury. He has had offers from other clubs. Blackpool have been very supportive in terms of his rehabilitation. He realises what he did was ridiculously stupid.”

The crash caused a postbox to be knocked over and damaged both cars. Madine attempted to carry on driving but was unable to do so due to the damage and ran off on foot, along with his passenger. Madine was traced as the registered keeper of the car and was sentenced to six months, suspended for 18 months, with 250 hours unpaid work and a 12-month driving ban. Madine must also sit an extended driving test before he can get his licence back.

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Mark Atkins, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: “The vehicle began to make off and ignored instructions by the police to stop. The police officer got into his car and followed the defendant and activated his blue lights and siren. During the police pursuit, he drove dangerously. There’s footage of the pursuit from the dash cam of the police car.”

Recorder Paul Reid said: “It’s a mystery why people in your position do this, I suspect you made off from the police because you didn’t want to be breathalysed, but I disregard that. The circumstances of this are bad enough. I’m impressed with the pre-sentence report and character references and the letter you have written yourself. You described this as an act of stupidity. It’s fortunate it didn’t result in worse damage or injury to other people.”

Madine, who is currently without a club, spent four years at Wednesday early in his career and returned to the Steel City for a loan spell at United in 2019, helping them win automatic promotion from the Championship and into the Premier League.