Disgraced former police officer jailed for using blue lights to rush home

A SACKED police officer has been branded a “public disgrace” and jailed for using his emergency lights to race back from work, crashing into a hare and damaging his car.

Ryan Lee was sacked by Nottinghamshire Police last month after reaching speeds of up to 101mph with his blue lights on while travelling to Worksop Police Station last year – despite having no work reason to do so.

On Friday, Lee appeared at Sheffield Crown Court to learn if he would be jailed for the same incident on April 26 last year which killed the wild hare and caused more than £2,000 damage to the patrol car.

Lee, of Hollindale Drive, Frecheville, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at the court on February 27.

Aaron Dinnes, prosecuting, said Lee, 27, had for “no apparent reason” turned on his blue lights before travelling at speed down the A617 and the A614.

“Other vehicles diligently pulled to the side of the road believing it was an emergency,” Mr Dinnes said.

After striking the hare while shooting down mainly single-carriageway roads he switched off the lights and slowed down the rest of the way.

The damage to the vehicle was extensive, Mr Dinnes said. The prosecutor added: “He could not provide any rationale for driving that way other than he wanted to get home quickly to his pregnant partner.”

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC was shown dashcam footage of Lee’s driving, which showed what Mr Dinnes called “prolonged and persistent bad driving”. In the video, Lee turned on his lights, reached speeds of 101mph in a 50mph zone, and hit the hare.

Judge Richardson observed that Lee was driving on the wrong side of the road and overtaking on solid white lines. He added that multiple cars had pulled over as “they will have assumed that it was an emergency vehicle responding to a genuine emergency – which it was not”.

In mitigation, Eddison Flint said his client showed remorse almost immediately after the offences.

“Remorse very often comes from the very fact of a guilty plea but I hope My Lord can see that in this case the remorse was present from the day it happened,” he said.

Mr Flint argued Lee had been rushing home so he could see his partner, who was going through a “troubled” pregnancy.

He added: “He wanted to get his police car back to the station as soon as possible so he could get back to his partner. And that turned out to be one of the worst decisions he ever made.”

The court, including members of his family in the public gallery, heard that Lee was working in an Asda warehouse after being dismissed.

He wished to take a university course and become a paramedic, Mr Flint added. “He accepts what he did that night was foolish and resulted in the loss of the job which he enjoyed more than most,” Mr Flint said.

Lee had a good service record at Nottinghamshire Police and was generally of positive character.

Mr Flint pleaded with the judge to give the former officer a suspended sentence, rather than an immediate prison term, as that would also seriously impact his partner and young son.

Judge Richardson acknowledged Lee’s partner and son would “suffer badly” but concluded his actions were too grave for a suspended sentence. He said: “For a police officer to conduct himself in the way you did is nothing short of a public disgrace. You have brought shame upon yourself and you have brought shame upon the police force you used to serve.”

After describing the decision over whether to send Lee to prison or hand him a suspended sentence as the “most difficult in this case”, Judge Richardson sentenced Lee to six months in prison and banned him from driving for three years. This was reduced from an initial 15-month sentence due to his family situation.

The sentence was met by loud cries from the public gallery, with Lee sobbing in the dock. He told his family: “I love you, I am sorry” before being sent down.