Fleeing sex offender ‘treated roads like racetrack’
A SEX offender “treated the roads like a race track” during a high-speed chase to escape police.
Derby Crown Court heard Matthew Bestwick panicked, knowing officers were looking for him, and accelerated in a bid to flee.
The 30-year-old sped through Heanor and into Ilkeston, running red lights and reaching 83mph in a 40mph limit. He then jumped out of his car, fled and went on the run for a month.
Sarah Slater, prosecuting, said Bestwick, of no fixed address, had been jailed in 2015 for making indecent images of children and inciting a child into sexual activity. He was placed on the sex offender register for life and told to notify police where he is living. But between December 2019 and the night of the driving offences, he had failed to do so.
Miss Slater that at 2.05am on August 27 of this year police spotted a car being driven by Bestwick and began to follow it.
Miss Slater said: “They activated their blue lights and he tried to, and did, get away from them. The chase lasted some four-and-a-half minutes and covered almost four miles.
“He sped around corners trying to get away from the police and drove on the wrong side of the road on a number of occasions. He went through some temporary traffic lights when they were on red and narrowly missed another car. It came to an end when he lost control in Manor Road, when he crashed into a hedge.”
Miss Slater said the chase began in Mundy Street, Heanor and took in Wilmot Street, Church Street, Ilkeston Road, Breach Road, Mill Road, Chapel Street and back on to Ilkeston Road. Bestwick then accelerated down Hardy Barn, through Shipley on Hassock Lane North, Hassock Lane South, Heanor Road and entered Ilkeston. He then went the wrong way around a traffic Island at the bottom of Bath Street, up Manners Road and on to Manor Road.
Miss Slater said: “The police car crashed into his vehicle. He got out, jumped on the bonnet and ran off. He was not found until a month later in Burton, where he was arrested.”
Bestwick admitted dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving without a valid licence and failing to stop, and also failing to comply with the requirements of the sex offender register.
Digby Johnson, mitigating, said his client had set up his own traffic management business which saw him working 12 to 14-hour days and sleeping in a car as he had nowhere to live, but business collapsed when the Covid-19 pandemic set in.
Mr Johnson said: “He accepts he panicked as he knew he had no insurance and he knew he had not complied [with the requirements of the order]. He hoped to get away from the police and failed to do so.”
Jailing him for 18 months, Recorder Paul Mann QC said: “You treated the roads like a race track. This is a bad case of dangerous driving but not the highest level. It was persistent and determined at greatly increased speeds. You also had a passenger and you put that person at risk as well.”