Driver jailed after 30-mile police chase

Armed police were involved in a high-speed 30-mile chase with an uninsured driver across the West Midlands after a Porsche owner reported having a gun pointed at him, a court heard.

Danny Cooper was yesterday jailed for 27 months and banned from driving for five years after admitting leading officers on a chase that started in Tipton, passed through Dudley and ended with him hitting a police car and wall in Kidderminster, where a knife was found in the car.

He reached 80mph as he careered through red lights, took roundabouts the wrong way, hurtled over a humpback bridge and blind bends and drove on the wrong side of the road at almost twice the speed limit, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday.

The 23-year-old, who had neither driving licence nor insurance, was alone in the black Ford Focus hire car that had been reported as one of two vehicles seen acting suspiciously outside the Coseley home of Porsche 911 owner Sukvinder Shoker less than 90 minutes earlier, prosecutor Mr Matthew Barnes said.

Cooper had called at the front door claiming to work for Virgin Media.

Tailed

He failed to gain entry and was followed by Mr Shoker, who reported having a hand gun pointed at him and called the police.

Half-an-hour later an unmarked police car saw the Focus being driven from a row of garages in Tipton and followed it.

Cooper, who was alone in the vehicle, sped off after realising he was being tailed. Mr Barnes said: "He was pursued by armed police response vehicles and the force helicopter for 30 miles."

The chase started in Tipton, swept through Dudley, past Russells Hall Hospital, onto the A449 and ended in Chester Road North, Kidderminster, after he crashed into a police car and wall.

A knife with a 10-inch blade was on the passenger seat.

Cooper, from Warwick Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, admitted dangerous driving on May 6, possession of an article with a blade and having neither insurance nor a driving licence.