Addict sent to jail at his own request

A HEROIN addict who drove a stolen car through narrow streets at high speed to try to evade police has been jailed at his own request so he can go into rehab.

Homeless Steven Riley, 44, was guilty of driving the car which had been stolen two years previously and which bore false number plates with his own fingerprints on them.

He was caught in Middleton.

Recorder Douglas Jones QC, at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court sitting at Stockport magistrates’ Court, was shown clips of police chasing Tiley in the Hyundai car on January 15 through narrow streets where the were speed humps and the limit was 30mph.

In places, Riley was doing 55mph in a ‘plainly residential area’.

Eventually, he drove the car over a grass verge and Riley bailed out before being found crouching behind another vehicle on High Street in Middleton.

David Farley prosecuting said Riley had 27 convictions and had committed 93 similar offences. “He has had difficulties with heroin (addiction) in particular,” he said.

On July 23 this year, Riley failed to surrender to bail.

Oliver Jarvis, defending, said: “Mr Riley has asked to remain in custody so he can work with the drugs support team.” And in a letter to the court, Riley said while in custody awaiting sentencing he had been working with the recovery team at Forest Bank Prison.

“It has given me opportunities I didn’t think were possible,” he said. “It is the first time I have committed to a detox. I now have the chance of entering into a rehabilitation programme.”

Mr Jarvis said: “He knows if he goes back to his old haunts and friends, he’ll be back on drugs.”

Recorder Jones sentenced Riley to six months and four weeks prison.