Traffic cop hurt after crazed driver fled at 111mph
OFFICER SUFFERED PERMANENT SCAR DURING ARREST INCIDENT
A POLICE officer well known for his appearances on TV show Traffic Cops was hurt while capturing a car thief.
Jonathan Murphy led officers on a chase at speeds of up to 111mph on the A38 around Derby before PC Alex Boniface’s arm was badly gashed during Murphy’s arrest.
A WHITE-KNUCKLE car chase through Derby has seen a man jailed in what one of TV’s Traffic Cops has called “the worst driving I have seen in 14 years on the force”.
PC Alex Boniface suffered permanent scarring to his arm when he and his team’s pursuit of Jonathan Murphy finally saw them box him in on the A38.
After the PC smashed the driver’s side window, the belligerent criminal refused to come quietly, dragging PC Boniface’s arm through the broken glass.
It left the officer with deep wounds to his forearm which required 16 stitches at the Royal Derby Hospital.
And when the 29-year-old was arrested, hours after stealing the £28,000 Audi from a car park and driving through the barriers to make good his escape, he told the police “I would have rammed the lot of you”.
Jailing Murphy for 18 months, Recorder Stuart Sprawson said: “This is one of the worst pieces of
dangerous driving I have ever seen.
“I have viewed the 10-minute long CCTV footage. You drove over a considerable distance measured in miles and not yards.
“You reached up to 111mph and when you were finally stopped, rather than be co-operative, you were belligerent and this police officer sustained a serious injury which has left him with permanent scarring and required 16 stitches.”
Dawn Pritchard, prosecuting, said Murphy’s offending began when CCTV caught him getting into the car and driving it through barriers at an NCP car park in Bristol shortly before midday on October 7.
She said after being reported to police forces in England and Wales, the Audi was then spotted and followed up the A38 by officers from Staffordshire and into Derby where they handed over to the Derbyshire force.
Miss Pritchard said: “PC Boniface said it was the worst driving he has seen in his 14 years on the force.
“He said at one point the brake discs were glowing orange, which is something he had never seen before.
“The defendant showed complete contempt for anyone’s safety.”
Miss Pritchard played the 10-minute chase on CCTV to the court room. It began with Murphy driving north on the A38 between Palm Court and Little Eaton roundabout, when police first tried to get him to stop.
The criminal, already a disqualified driver, went all the way around the second island and headed back in the direction of Markeaton Island where he had come from.
PC Boniface, who is well known to viewers of the Channel 5 show Traffic Cops, followed him as he reached a top speed of 111mph, overtaking traffic dangerously. After jumping red lights and heading over Markeaton, Murphy then went all the way round the island near Kingsway and back towards Little Eaton on the dual carriageway.
Once he reached that roundabout again, he then forced his way through static traffic, drove over the police’s Stinger device and carried on north on the A38 with two blown tyres.
Finally, near Coxbench, officers managed to block him in.
It is then that PC Boniface was injured as he tried to get Murphy out of the stolen car.
Murphy, of Thomas Street, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.
He has 39 previous convictions, including theft of motor vehicles.
As well as the jail term, he was disqualified from driving for four years.
Joe Harvey, mitigating, said: “He wanted to go back to the North West where he comes from and which is why he took the car and then made the appalling and stupid decision not to stop.
“He has burnt all of his familial bridges, he has nothing to do with his family.”
The defendant showed complete contempt for anyone’s safety.
Dawn Pritchard