Thief stopped car in middle of road during police chase
A car thief suddenly stopped the stolen vehicle in the outside lane of a busy dual carriageway and gave himself up to pursuing police after a chase, a judge heard.
Mitchell Evans drove off in the Nissan Navara after spotting it parked unattended with the keys in the ignition in a yard in Pinfold Lane, Aldridge, on February 10, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Shortly afterwards it was picked up by an automatic number plate recognition camera while travelling towards Dudley and a police car pulled up behind it in traffic at a roundabout outside the town.
The 24-year-old driver ignored a request to stop and raced off down Birmingham Road and into Duncan Edwards Way reaching 75mph in a 40 limit as he weaved from lane to lane of the dual carriageway undertaking and overtaking other vehicles, said Mr David Bennett, prosecuting.
Evans narrowly missed a string of other cars and a pedestrian on a zebra crossing before joining the Southern Bypass where he suddenly halted after getting trapped in traffic on the outside lane, held up his hands and told police officers: 'I'm sorry,' the court heard.
Mr John Evans, defending, said: "The pursuit covered about two miles and only lasted a few minutes.
"No accident had occurred before he sensibly realised that what he was doing was incredibly stupid, and stopped." Evans from Cinder Bank, Netherton, who had previous convictions for 22 offences, admitted aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving and was jailed for 14 months.
Judge James Burbidge QC said: "While driving around the Black Country I see lots of floral tributes to people who have died in road accidents.
"It is people like you who steal a car and then drive it dangerously at high speed who can cause such incidents."
