Express & Star

180mph speeding driver jailed for nine years

One of the fastest drivers caught in the West Midlands was jailed for nine years when justice finally caught up with him at Wolverhampton Crown Court this afternoon.

Published

One of the fastest drivers caught in the West Midlands was jailed for nine years when justice finally caught up with him at Wolverhampton Crown Court this afternoon.

Ben Westwood, a 33-year-old car trader from Woden Road, Wednesfield, reached 180mph at the wheel of a stolen specially-modified £85,000 Audi RS5 as he outpaced the police helicopter while hurtling north along the M6 towards Stafford on January 13.

He then doubled back to Wolverhampton and dumped the car in Pickering Road, Wednesfield, following a 65-mile chase before being traced to his hideout in a flat in nearby Lathe Court.

Westwood, linked to over a dozen smash and grab raid throughout the Midlands during a five-month crime spree with the stolen Audi in which around £50,000 worth of cigarettes were stolen together with jewellery and cash, was fleeing from a bungled attempt to cut open an ATM cash machine filled with £21,000 on the forecourt of the Murco garage in Warstones Road, Penn.

The Audi - one of only two of its kind in the country - with a Lamborghini engine and racing car brakes - had been stolen in a car key burglary in August last year.

The car was linked to raids in Cannock, Rugeley, Wednesfield, Walsall, Worcester, Bentley Bridge, Stourport, Stoke and Market Drayton.

Prosecutor Mr Stefan Kolodynski told Wolverhampton Crown Court this afternoon: "Westwood was the leader of the gang, as yet untraced, involved in these high-value commercial burglaries."

The face of Westwood was captured on CCTV when his hood was pulled off after snagging it on a piece of metal during one of the raids at Tesco in Heath Hayes on December 5.

He had a string of previous convictions including a carbon-copy crime and was regarded as a priority, persistent offender by detectives who immediately recognised him from the picture.

He escaped five times from pursuing police by out-accelerating them in the stolen Audi during the string of raids.

Westwood was chased again as police swooped on a gang involved in the bungled bid to steal from the ATM machine at Penn.

Three of them - Luke Watkins, 34, Ramesh Sharma, 38, and 41-year-old Stephen Green - were in a van with the oxyacetylene cutting gear in the back and were arrested almost immediately.

But Westwood sped off in the Audi with 26-year-old Greg Simpson in the passenger seat and headed for the M6.

Mr Kolodynski said: "On the motorway, the Audi reached 180mph, or maybe higher, and was getting away from the police helicopter. If he had stayed on the motorway he would have outrun it."

But fearing that the exits further north would be blocked, he turned around and headed back towards Wolverhampton - and into the clutches of the police.

Westwood was found guilty of conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to steal and dangerous driving at an earlier trial.

The other four men in the dock with him today either admitted or were found guilty of conspiracy to steal but only involved in the Penn garage ATM attempted cash theft.

Simpson, from Wordsworth Road, The Scotlands received four years; Sharma, of Barrington Close, Oxley got three; Watkins, of Whetstone Grove, Bushbury was sent to prison for three years, nine months while Green, from Castlebridge Road, Wednesfield was locked up for four years and six months.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.