The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Boxer Joe is
A DANGEROUS driver fractured his spine falling off a cliff as he tried to run away from police in the dark.
Jack Tatum had illegally got behind the wheel of an Abarth 500 which had been bought for him but then removed from his use by his parents due to his bad driving record.
On September 11 last year, while uninsured, he drove dangerously and was seen speeding with another vehicle and attracted the attention of the police.
Tatum, who had a passenger in the car, then failed to stop for officers and a prolonged chase took place as he evaded a number of police cars.
The court heard he drove at speed, swerved aggressively and went round a roundabout the wrong way and the police had to acquire helicopter assistance and use a stinger device to burst his tyres and disable the car, which he abandoned near Earsdon, North Tyneside and made off on foot.
However, the 21-year-old, of Hotspur
North, Backworth, North Tyneside then plunged down Holywell Dene in the dark, breaking his back.
Sentencing him, Judge Tim Gittins said: “You risked yourself and your passenger being injured and risked others being injured, maimed or killed.
“In fact, miraculously, none of that happened and the only damage was that done by the stinger - until you decided not to give yourself up but to run off.
“At that point, in the dark of night, you fell, effectively off a cliff and fractured your spine.
“I’m not sure if you realise but I hope you realise, you could have paralysed yourself.
NEWCASTLE boxer Joe Laws has set up a fundraiser for the ‘send-off’ of late British champion Willie Limond, after the 45-year-old passed away earlier this week.
Benwell Bomber Laws, 29, was set to take on Limond in the squared circle on May 3 at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
However, in a tragic turn of events, his Scottish opponent was found unresponsive in a car in Coatbridge on April 6 – passing away nine days later.
“You could have killed other people that night. It was an appalling demonstration of dangerous driving. How many times courts hear and have to see cases where young men like you think they are God’s gift to driving and seem to think they are invincible and drive in this way, not thinking of the consequences.
“It’s there in the Press every other week for someone like you to see and all the more clear when you are somebody who has been before the courts for dangerous driving before, albeit in wholly different circumstances, and you had been fined for careless driving as well. Yet no lessons seem to have been learned by you.
A Police Scotland spokesperson, confirmed: “Around 8.05am on Saturday April 6 2024, police were called to a report of a 45-year-old man found unresponsive within a car in Heatherbell Road, Coatbridge.
“The man was taken to Monklands Hospital where he died on Monday April 15 2024. There are no suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”
Now, Laws has set up a fundraiser for his late opponent, to ensure that the champion receives the send-off he deserves and his children are looked after.
Speaking to The Chronicle about the
“You have been physically effected, really for the rest of your life and have that as a constant reminder to you about how criminally stupid you were that day.”
The judge said Tatum couldn’t complain if he locked him up but said there was “just a glimmer” that he was beginning to mature so he would give him one chance to avoid prison.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, having no insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
He sentenced him to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 200 hours’ unpaid work and a threeyear driving ban.