Driver who led police on two-mile car chase locked up
A drug user in a stolen car, who lost control while trying to outpace pursuing police, has been locked up.
Joel Cooper was at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta taken from outside the home of its owner two weeks earlier, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The 20-year-old was spotted in the vehicle while stationary in the car park of a restaurant in Tividale Road, Tipton.
It sped off as police approached and led them on a two-and-a-half-mile chase through heavy traffic, said Mr Ian Ball, prosecuting.
The defendant drove on the wrong side of Dudley Road East for a short distance in a bid to lose his pursuers before ploughing into another Ford Fiesta in Fountain Lane, Oldbury, on July 19 last year.
The defendant and his passenger got out of the wrecked car – which was on false plates – and fled on foot into a dead end.
Both cars were badly damaged and it cost £12,000 to repair them, it was said.
On December 8 police searched the home of the defendant in relation to an unrelated inquiry and found more than £800 worth of cocaine and an unspecified amount of cannabis, revealed the prosecutor.
Cooper, who had previous convictions involving nine separate offences, failed to turn up for his sentencing hearing on June 7 this year and was not arrested until September 26, the court heard.
Mr Richard McConaghy, defending, said: “This is a young man who has been making bad decisions.”
Cooper from Peel Way, Tividale, admitted dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and absconding.
He was ordered to be detained for 10 months in a Young Offenders Institution by Judge Simon Ward.
