Banned driver topped 100mph on punctured tyres in police pursuit
JAIL FOR MAN WHO LED OFFICERS ON DANGER DRIVE ALONG A60
A DISQUALIFIED driver topped 100mph three times on tyres which had been partially deflated by a police Stinger device.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how during the pursuit from Arnold, uninsured Richard Frost weaved dangerously in and out of traffic and jumped a red light. The police chase only came to a halt when officers managed to box in the BMW 7 Series that the 42-year-old was driving on the A614 Old Rufford Road.
Now the heavily-convicted defendant has been sent to prison for what a judge called a “fairly erratic” piece of dangerous driving.
Jailing Frost for 10 months, Judge Steve Coupland said: “Your speeds topped 100mph, you drove on the wrong side of the road and overtook other vehicles, swerving throughout.
The state of your tyres was such that you were never in total control of the vehicle and that showed a high risk of causing serious injury or even worse to yourself or other innocent road users.
“You are 42 now and it is your choice whether you want to keep coming back to court and being sent to prison or [if you want to] finally sort your life out.”
Declan Austin, prosecuting, said the incident began on the A60 in Arnold on April 10 this year. He said the BMW being driven by Frost first came to the attention of Leicestershire police and its progress was followed into Nottinghamshire where it was spotted by officers in an unmarked police.
The prosecutor said a stinger trap was set up with other officers further up the road. Mr Auston said: “What followed was a chase lasting several minutes up to A60 and on to the A614.
“The defendant’s car accelerated away onto the opposite carriageway driving at excessive speed towards a roundabout where the police tried to stop him. Despite the tyres having been stung he reached 100mph on three separate occasions and was weaving in and out of traffic.
“As it approached a second roundabout the police were made aware of an accident ahead of them and so to prevent him driving towards that they carried out a tactical stop and boxed the BMW in.”
Mr Austin said Frost, of Commonside, Hanging Heaton, Batley, West Yorkshire, answered “no comment” to the questions he was asked in interview but later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified and without insurance.
He has 33 previous court appearances for 47 offences including one for dangerous driving from 2016.
Sue Rodham, mitigating, said: “There is very little to say about the driving, your honour has seen the footage. There is no request for a pre-sentence report and his main mitigation is his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity at the magistrates’ court.”
As well as the jail term, the judge disqualified the defendant from driving for three years and four months.