Express & Star

Caught on camera: Son of TV star Paddy Doherty leads police on eight-mile car chase

This was the dramatic scene as the son of reality TV star Paddy Doherty led West Midlands Police through more than eight miles of icy roads across the Black Country before the chase ended in a head-on smash.

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Images released by West Midlands Police show the son of reality television star Paddy Doherty driving at high speed in a stolen BMW M3 through the streets of Dudley and Tipton.

The footage, taken from a pursuing police car, shows 20-year-old Martin Doherty driving through roadworks, swerving to avoid oncoming traffic and driving down the wrong side of the road.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court last week Doherty was jailed for 14 months for aggravated vehicle taking after a judge warned him he was fortunate his 'appalling' driving did not have had 'catastrophic' consequences.

Speaking to the Express & Star following the hearing, his father, former bare-knuckle boxing champion Paddy Doherty, who starred in My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and won Celebrity Big Brother, said his son had 'got what he deserved'.

The drama began on the A461 at Dudley Port when police spotted the black BMW M3 driving erratically on the afternoon of December 7, 2012.

Three youths and another man were passengers in the car, which had been stolen three months earlier and was using false number plates.

Stills taken from the footage show the BMW overtaking a car on Priory Road, Dudley, as it travels up the wrong side of the road at a speed in excess of the 30mph limit. Police continued to pursue the car as it headed down Wolverhampton Street on the wrong side of the road and forcing an oncoming van to reverse out of the way.

The BMW almost hit the front end of another van as it pulled out of Trinity Road before turning into The Inhedge and bolting straight across the Stafford Street junction at high speed.

The red Nissan Micra that Doherty, 20, smashed into.

Doherty, of Riverside Caravan Park, Queensferry, Flintshire, eventually completed a full circle and headed back down to the Birmingham New Road in the direction of Wolverhampton where it was involved in a head-on collision. The wreckage of the BMW can be seen shrouded in smoke having crashed head-on into a Nissan Micra driven by Ronald Gough. The Micra was spun around 180 degrees as a result of the smash while Mr Gough had to be cut free from his car by emergency services. He suffered multiple injuries including bruising all over his body and pain in his legs, arms and chest. It took him a month to make a full recovery.

Doherty and his accomplices fled the debris of the BMW but were all arrested a short time later in nearby gardens. At the hearing on September 19, Mr Zaheer Afzal, prosecuting, said Doherty had committed 'numerous traffic violations' and described his driving as 'extremely erratic' throughout the entire incident. Defending Doherty, who had been visiting friends in Dudley at the time of the incident, Mr Adam Roxborough, told the court: "He accepts fully his responsibility and knows the consequences could have been far worse."

Paddy Doherty won Celebrity Big Brother in 2011.

The four passengers in the BMW — Daniel McDonagh, 20, of Sunnyview Road, Chester, and three 18-year-old youths — also admitted aggravated vehicle taking and were sentenced to suspended terms in a young offenders institution, and given orders to carry out unpaid work. They were all handed 12 month driving bans.

None of the five defendants were said to be involved in the theft of the BMW. Doherty's father Paddy, who was in court to support his son, said: "I'm very sorry. What has happened should never have happened. What he did was wrong and he has got what he deserves. He could be dead. I am grateful to God for giving him back to me.

"He has learned his lesson and these days he is out working every day and keeping away from trouble."

See also:

Son of reality TV star Paddy Doherty jailed over police chase crash

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