Masked burglar punched policeman and rammed patrol cars during bid for freedom
A policeman was punched in the face and two patrol cars rammed by a masked raider making a frantic bid for freedom, a judge was told.
Banned driver Jamie Hopson – on bail for an unrelated offence – was at the wheel of a stolen Subaru Impreza that had been involved in a ram raid minutes earlier, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The vehicle had also been spotted during a failed pub burglary shortly before that, said Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.
It was stolen from Derby in December 2015 and given false number plates, the court was told.
Hopson, aged 23, and at least two other men went on a crime spree in the vehicle two days later, starting at the Wheatsheaf pub in Walsall Road, Great Wyrley.
The raiders fled empty handed when dogs started barking.
It was then used to smash open the shutters of the Superdrug store in Market Place, Willenhall.
Hopson and his colleagues grabbed £5,000 worth of perfume but were seen by a passer by who alerted police.
A police vehicle blocked the path of the Impreza in Walsall Road. Masked Hopson rammed the police car before reversing at speed into another one.
An officer who caught the defendant was punched in the face, suffering a cut lip. The stolen cosmetics were found in the abandoned car.
Mr Andrew Mitchinson, defending, said the spur to Hopson's offending had been drugs but he was now 'clean.' Hopson, of Vaughan Road, Portobello, Willenhall, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, two burglaries, driving when disqualified, dangerous driving and assault. He was jailed for 30 months and banned from driving for three years one month.
