‘Fit Felon’ jailed over high-speed chase with police

A WANTED criminal dubbed the ‘Fit Felon’ after his mugshot attracted an army of online admirers has been jailed again.

Police who shared a mugshot of Jonathan Cahill, 37, earlier this year were flooded with messages saying: “We are looking for him too”.

It led to comparisons to American fugitive Jeremy Meeks, who was dubbed ‘the world’s hottest felon’ in 2014.

Cahill, inset, was jailed for 21 months this week over a dangerous high-speed chase that saw him cause injury to two police officers last April.

He was part way through an eightyear sentence for conspiracy to burgle and out on licence when his mugshot attracted attention from a legion of swooning admirers. One woman asked police at the time: “If I find him, can I keep him?”

Leeds Crown Court heard officers on patrol in a marked police car saw a Ford Fiesta drive past them on the wrong side of the road at 4.50am on April 16 last year.

Prosecutor Jade Edwards said they pursued the Fiesta, which was driven by Cahill and reached speeds of 90mph in a 40mph zone.

He then drove at almost 70 mph when he reached a 30mph residential area, the court was told.

At one point, he pulled a 180-degree handbrake turn, which Ms Edwards said was an attempt to ram the police vehicle.

He then entered a roundabout at 75mph and tried to enter the M1 on the wrong side.

Police then made “tactical contact”, colliding with the Fiesta and forcing it to stop, the court heard.

It was estimated that the damage caused to the police vehicle was almost £14,000 and the officers were left with minor injuries.

Cahill, from Wakefield, denied dangerous driving and driving while banned, but later changed his pleas to guilty after a trial date had been set. He also admitted failing to provide a breath test or a sample of blood for analysis, and having no insurance.

The court heard Cahill has 46 previous convictions for 131 offences, including 14 for driving while banned, 15 for having no insurance and one for drink driving. Jailing Cahill for 21 months, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told him: “There’s a large number of offences related to driving on your record. Here we are once again.”