Teen terrified his robbery victims before starting £72k car chase

NINE POLICE CARS DAMAGED IN HIGH-SPEED PURSUIT

A MASKED 17-year-old carried out a terrifying robbery of two men on a University of Nottingham campus before leading police on a deathdefying high-speed chase during which he damaged nine vehicles, causing £72,000 of damage.

Both robbery victims feared they would be shot or stabbed after the teenager told them he would “blow their heads off” if they did not hand over their property.

Then, during the 45-minute pursuit in and around Nottingham, the teenager reached 120mph on the M1, 107mph on the A52 through Beeston, jumped red lights, drove on the wrong side of the road and deliberately smashed into chasing police cars.

The pursuit only came to an end when he crashed into a lamppost.

Mia Mcnevin, prosecuting, said the offences were all in the early hours of January 6. The two robbery victims – one a former student – were at the Jubilee campus in Triumph Road when they were approached by a car driven by the Hyson Green teenager, whose identity is protected by law.

Miss Mcnevin said he got out and asked them where they were from and one replied “London” before walking towards the robber, who said: “If you get one step closer I will blow your head off.” He then demanded they drop items on the ground.

“They believed he had a weapon, a knife or a gun, and they both feared for their lives. He repeated his threat that he would blow their heads off and they dropped what they had on them.”

After robbing the men, the defendant was then spotted behind the wheel of an Audi in Beechdale and the chase began. He reached 70mph in 30mph Bells Lane and 70mph on the A610 before undertaking a car to get on the southbound M1 at junction 26.

Miss Mcnevin said: “He swerved across lanes and drove at 120mph for a sustained period before coming off at junction 25, contravened his first red traffic lights and went on to the A52 towards Nottingham where he reached 107mph in a 40mph limit.

“He then got to 90mph in Stapleford Lane and drove on the wrong side of the road before getting on to Clifton Boulevard where he drove at 95mph and violently swerved at the QMC roundabout and on to Derby Road.”

The pursuit continued to Alfreton Road, down to Crown Island, back up to Gregory Boulevard, Upper Parliament Street, and on to Bobbers Mill Road and Nuthall Road where he deliberately began to collide with chasing police cars.

Miss Mcnevin said: “The Audi then crashed into a lamppost and came to a stop and, during the course of the pursuit, nine police cars were damaged at a total cost of £72,536.52.”

The teenager remained silent when arrested and interviewed but pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving without a valid licence and driving without insurance. He has a previous conviction from 2022 for two counts of robbery and three counts of attempted robbery from when he was 15.

In mitigation, Gareth Gimson said the robbery was a short-lived incident and there were no weapons.

He said his client had been assessed by youth offending teams as “immature” and he had pleaded guilty at an early opportunity.

Mr Gimson added: “We are talking about a boy who is 17 and the first steps to him improving the boy he is to the man he will become in the future is candour. He accepts what he has done and this boy can change who he is in the future.

“His mother sits in the public gallery and his shame is total and complete.”

After hearing the case, Judge James Sampson said he would sentence the teenager the following week and gave him conditional bail.