Belfast Telegraph

Pensioner is fined after ‘Benny Hill-style’ police chase

- BY ALAN ERWIN

A PENSIONER motorist was pursued by police through a public park and just avoided pedestrian­s in a scene reminiscen­t of The Benny Hill TV comedy show, a court has heard.

Robert McCann drove into the Falls Park in west Belfast last month in a borrowed Mercedes car after panicking over a tobacco purchase, his lawyer said.

The 70-year-old, of Divis Tower in the city, was banned from driving and fined £650 after admitting a series of motoring offences.

Defence counsel Michael Boyd told Belfast Magistrate­s Court: “If it hadn’t been so frightenin­g for the people he narrowly missed it would be comical.”

Police tried to get McCann to stop after checks revealed no insurance for the car he was driving in the Falls Road area on February 7. A prosecutio­n lawyer said Mercedes failed to halt, instead travelling into the nearby Falls Park.

She told the court the vehicle narrowly missed a number of pedestrian­s, including a woman walking a pram. The car was then abandoned before the driver fled.

McCann was arrested close to the scene and subsequent­ly made admissions.

In court yesterday he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, having no licence and using a motor vehicle without insurance.

His barrister described the case as “utterly bizarre”.

Mr Boyd said: “He got in a friend’s car to do a message and panicked when police wanted to speak to him. He had some tobacco that he had purchased from an individual who had brought it in from Spain.”

District Judge Fiona Bagnall likened the explanatio­n to something out of television sitcom Benidorm.

Mr Boyd responded: “Or Benny Hill maybe.

“It was a moment of madness — thankfully no-one was hurt.”

Imposing the disqualifi­cation and fines, Mrs Bagnall also ordered McCann to pay a further £15 offender levy.

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