Driver slammed into shop after fleeing from police
A MAN crashed his car into a shop while fleeing from police officers who had noticed a broken tail light on his vehicle.
At the time of the incident Jamie Steele was out of prison on licence following a series of brutal attacks which saw him punching and stabbing students and assaulting people in a Carmarthen town centre.
Following his arrest for the driving offences, the 29-year-old was recalled back to prison to serve the remainder of the nine-year sentence he was given for the previous drunken assaults. On that occasion the judge said he had no doubt Steele had “the capacity to kill”.
Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that at 6am on February 28 this year two police officers on patrol on the A4067 north of Milford Haven noticed a silver Vauxhall Corsa with a defective rear light.
The officers carried out a check on the vehicle and the results showed it to be uninsured so they turned their patrol vehicle around and began to follow it.
The court heard the officers saw the Vauxhall overtaking a number of vehicles in a 20mph zone so decided to pull it over to speak to the driver both about the defective light and his manner of driving. However, the Corsa did not stop and instead drove off at excess speeds in the direction of Haverfordwest, going the wrong way around a roundabout and travelling on the wrong side of the road “in the face of oncoming traffic”.
The court heard officers lost sight of the vehicle as it entered Haverfordwest but with the help of people at a
Mcdonald’s they found it in Pembrokeshire Road, where it had crashed into the front of a Premier shop.
The prosecutor said police began an area search and came across Steele hiding in bushes. The defendant ran away but was chased and caught. The 29-year-old admitted being in the Corsa but denied he had been driving it. When searched he was in possession of 3g of cannabis. He subsequently answered “no comment” to all questions asked in interview.
Jamie Steele, of Lon Hywel, Whitland, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, criminal damage, possession of cannabis, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, and failing to stop after an accident. He has 24 previous convictions for 52 offences. In 2018 Steele was sentenced to nine years in prison for a brutal attack on three students in Carmarthen town centre which saw him repeatedly punching them before stabbing them with a screwdriver. One stab punctured a victim’s lung and came within an inch of his heart. After the attack Steele went to the Coracle pub and continued drinking before pushing the landlady and breaking her wrist, knocking a chef unconscious and stamping on his head, and then punching a customer.
Jon Tarrant, for Steele, said there was little mitigation he could put forward on behalf of his client other than his guilty pleas. He said following his arrest for the driving matter the defendant had been recalled to prison to serve the remainder of his 2018 sentence.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told Steele his driving had put other road users at risk. The defendant was sentenced to 15 months in prison comprising 10 months for the dangerous driving, 28 days for the criminal damage and seven days for the possession of cannabis, all to run concurrently. Penalty points were put on his licence for the other matters.