Drug driver hit speeds of 124mph during "truly dreadful" police chase

[dutchman]

Dominic Haywood abandoned his BMW but was found by police dogs hiding in a field



A drug driver led police on a ten-mile chase at speeds of up to 124mph through villages around Coventry and Nuneaton.

And when Dominic Haywood was finally found hiding in a field after abandoning his powerful BMW, tests showed he had more than three times the legal limit of cannabis in his system.

Haywood, 18, of Queensway, Nuneaton, was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and driving while over the specified limit of cannabis.

The judge at Coventry Crown Court also banned him from driving for four years and four months, after which he will have to take an extended test before getting his licence back.

[Jailing] Haywood, Recorder Simon Readhead QC told him: “I have to have in mind the deterrent effect and public safety.

“You are still very young, and you only passed your test in February this year.

"You have not been in trouble before, and you accepted your responsibility for this offence immediately on being arrested and you express full regret and remorse.

“But this was a highly dangerous piece of driving which continued for some time and over a not insignificant distance of seven to ten miles.

“I take into account that no injury was caused to any other person or other property, although that, in my judgement, is due to providence rather than anything you did or did not do.

“This offence was on a Friday night at a time and in places where other people were likely to be present, and your motivation was to escape from a police officer.

“The speeds you reached were truly dreadful. The risk of losing control in those places at that speed is considerable.

“People who drive dangerously when they have consumed illicit drugs must expect an immediate custodial sentence.”

[dutchman]

the BMW, which had been bought and insured for Haywood by his grandfather

That was my first thought. How does a newly qualified driver get insurance to drive a powerful BMW? As I understand it unless his grandfather was also the principal driver he was driving without proper insurance?

[rebbonk]

Spot on Dutchman. It's called 'fronting' and is illegal.

[dutchman]

I suspect there was also clause in the insurance policy stating that no one under a certain age - usually 25 - was allowed to drive it.