12 years in jail for prolific burglar who used car to smash into police officer
A prolific burglar, who used his car as a weapon to smash a police officer into a lamp post in Birmingham in a desperate attempt to escape, was this afternoon jailed for 12 years.
Carl Anderson, aged 50, reversed his car across a road at up to 35mph, engine screaming and tyres screeching, as Pc Peter McGinn clung to the driver's side door trying to grab the keys.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC, sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, told Anderson today: "You deliberately reversed the car at speed such that the open door was smashed against a lamp post with such force it broke the hinges and folded the door back against the car.
"Between that door and the lamp post was Pc McGinn." Anderson had originally been charged with attempting to murder PC McGinn but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge during a hearing last month.
He also admitted burglary, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and using a vehicle without insurance.
The 50-year-old, from Osbourne Close, Aston, Birmingham, was arrested on June 7 after PC McGinn suffered multiple fractures in the incident in the Erdington area of the city.
The police officer is known to have undergone complex surgery, lasting more than six hours, after suffering serious shoulder, leg and pelvic injuries following the incident. He is still using crutches 16 weeks after the attack.
Forty-four-year-old PC McGinn has been a serving West Midlands police officer for more than a decade.
Robert Price, prosecuting, said the incident happened after Anderson had been spotted in the back garden of a house in Erdington in the city on the afternoon of Friday, June 7, breaking in to a shed.
The police were called and officers in a marked police car spotted Anderson getting in a car in nearby Compton Road a short while after.
He said: "Pc McGinn immediately jumped out of the police car, and opened the driver's door shouting to Mr Anderson: 'police, get out now'."
However, Anderson responded by turning the keys in the ignition, despite a struggle from Pc McGinn, and stamped "heavily on the accelerator".
Witnesses, including other officers who had arrived on the scene, described the car's engine 'screaming' and its tyres 'screeching' as it 'arced across the road towards a lamppost' said Mr Price.
