Masked gang in chase round city streets
MACHETE TERROR AS GROUPS CLASH ON BONFIRE NIGHT
A CAR chase through Derby streets ended with a head-on crash and a machete being brandished.
The incident, involving Craig Shaw, followed a night in which a masked gang turned up at man’s home and chased him down the street, Derby Crown Court heard. Shaw and the gang turned up again later and a car chase ensued, which ended with two vehicles crashing and another in a front garden.
A TERRIFYING car chase involving a masked gang and weapons ended in a head-on car smash in Derby.
Derby Crown Court heard that after the Bonfire Night crash in Mackworth, Craig Shaw got out of his vehicle brandishing a machete above his head.
Making threats to use it on the victim, the 30-year-old then ran from the scene as police arrived.
Another car had ended up in the front garden of a house as it swerved to avoid a second collision.
Shaw, of Hawk Street, Derby, who once witnessed his brother being fatally attacked with a meat cleaver, then went on the run for two months until he was caught.
Jailing him for 21 months, Judge Shaun Smith said: “It would be an understatement to say you have got a temper.
“You turned up at the home of the victim at 7pm on a dark, November, evening with others. There were shouts to get him and weapons were produced. He was chased down the street and asked a neighbour for help.
“His family vacated the area and when the police were called, everybody thought it was over, but it wasn’t.
“Because at 9.15pm you turned up again and used your car as a weapon and drove into a gate, forcing the victim to run out of the way.
“His family then got in their cars and got involved and were not without blame.
“The way it ended was that everybody drove around the streets and there was a head-on crash, with one car ending up in the front garden of a house. It was extremely unpleasant and miraculously no-one was injured.”
Esther Harrison, prosecuting, said the offences all took place on November 5, 2020, around Mackworth. She said there was a background of tension between Shaw and the victim’s family, which culminated in him first turning up with a masked gang in his vehicle at 7pm.
Miss Harrison said after chasing him down the road they disappeared, but returned again at 9.15pm at the victim’s home in Enfield Road. She said: “The defendant was in a Mitsubishi Outlander and drove towards the victim, who had to dive out of the path.
“It then went into a car in the driveway and continued into a gate. The victim got in his car and his father got into another vehicle and went after the Mitsubishi.
“They went on to Beckenham Way and it ended with a head-on crash in Kensal Rise. One car had to swerve and ended up in the front garden of a house.
“The defendant got out and started waving a machete around making threats to the victim. The police then arrived and he ran from the scene.
“A number of neighbours had come out and had also armed themselves for their own protection.”
Miss Harrison said Shaw then went on the run and was not found until January of this year at an address in Nottingham.
She read out two victim impact statements made by the victim’s sister and mother who both described themselves as “nervous wrecks”.
The mother said she has even bought a stab vest for her son as she fears there might be further recriminations.
Shaw pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, two counts of affray, possession of an offensive weapon and driving without a valid licence.
He has 17 previous convictions for 26 offences, including one from 2011 for aggravated burglary, in Nottingham, which saw him jailed for more than eight years.
Robert Wilson, mitigating, was asked by Judge Smith: “Why was he so outraged on that particular evening?”
He replied: “I will try to keep it simple, your honour. There are problems between these two families and today is the ten-year anniversary of the death of his brother.
“It was an incident involving a meat cleaver and he witnessed it. There have been threats and taunts, the machete was used to scare, it was not used.”
As well as the jail term, Shaw was banned from driving for 22 months.
It was extremely unpleasant and miraculously no-one was injured. Judge Shaun Smith