Jail for speeding 'maniac' driver with young son in car

Richard Cox, aged 28, tore around the streets of Wolverhampton reaching double the speed limit just a month after he had been banned from the wheel.

The court heard how Cox had never owned a driving licence but had a string of previous motoring offences.

Miss Deborah Gould, prosecuting, told the court that police officers in an unmarked car spotted Cox driving erratically on New Road, in Willenhall on April 22 this year.

She said: "At about 2.45pm, officers saw him approaching a traffic island which he navigated at speed which resulted in the car mounting the nearside kerb.

"As officers neared the vehicle, it sped off down Moseley Roased.

"The vehicle was driving down Green Lane, which is a 30miles per hour zone, at 60 miles per hour.

"He went into the path of ongoing vehicles approached road traffic lights and went across at speed, caused other drivers to stop and continued down Ward Street at 50 miles per hour, which is a 30 miles per hour residential area."

She said he went across traffic lights which were on red, causing other drivers to stop, and also did a u-turn on the Birmingham New Road.

He also travelled down Coalway Avenue, Penn Road and Warstones Road before abandoning the car in Fareham Crescent, she said.

He was captured at a nearby address where he gave himself up, she added, by handing over the keys of the car to the police.

She said: "He told the police "I am the driver, I had to get my child to his baby momma'."

Mr Ecky Tiwana, for Cox, said: "There was no injury to anyone or any damage to other cars.

"Stupidly, he had his son in the car. There was no injury to him or his son and he conceded straight away when confronted by officers that he was the driver.

"He knows it was a dreadful piece of driving. He is really committed to his son and there is a good bond between them and he is committed to providing for him."

Cox, of Vale Street, Parkfields, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving whilst disqualified.

Judge Michael Dudley told him: "You have an appalling driving record. You have never held a driving licence and you were convicted of dangerous driving for the first time in 2007.

"You were disqualified in March and just over one month later you were driving on public roads like a maniac.

"The public needs a break from your driving. You drive with a complete disregard for the rules of the road."

Judge Dudley sentenced Cox to 12 months in prison for dangerous driving, with a four month sentence to run consecutively for driving whilst disqualified.

He received no separate penalty for driving without a licence, but was disqualified from driving for four years.