WATCH: Van thief jailed after crashing into war memorial on Remembrance Day
A van thief who crashed into a war memorial after a police chase on Remembrance Day has been jailed.
Dramatic dash-cam footage shows the moment Grant Gold crashed a stolen Ford Transit into the memorial garden in Marston Green after being chased by police on November 11 last year.
The 27-year-old stole the van from Lundy View in Kingshurst at 1pm but within three hours police were on his tail after the van's number plates were picked up by ANPR cameras.
He was spotted on Bickenhill Parkway, near the NEC, and failed to stop for officers, resulting in a dangerous pursuit through Birmingham streets.
The footage shot from the chasing police car shows Gold driving at speed to evade officers and dangerously overtaking cars on both sides of the road.
WATCH the police chase here:
He narrowly avoids smashing into other vehicles and even mounts the pavement as he tries to avoid cars that had stopped at a crash involving a Ford ST stolen by Gold's accomplices.
Gold can be seen speeding through the Marston Green area of Birmingham, before heading off-road and ploughing through a fence and down a narrow public footpath.
He then collides with a smaller van on Station Road before ploughing into the edge of the garden that honours local residents who died in the two world wars.
Gold, from Skye Close in Smith's Wood, Birmingham, was arrested and admitted to aggravated vehicle taking and the theft of the Focus.
He was jailed for 22 months and banned from driving for three years.
'Lucky no-one was injured'
Investigating officer, Pc Sarah Harvey from Solihull Police’s Investigation Team, said: "Gold placed many road users and pedestrians at risk due to the nature of his driving, it’s lucky that no-one was seriously hurt or killed.
"He admitted taking the van and dropping two unknown accomplices, who ran away from the crashed ST, at the NEC knowing they were intending to steal another car.
"However, we suspect Gold is likely to have been responsible for other car thefts and I am sure we’ll see a reduction in such offences with him behind bars."
A ‘relay’ device, used by car thieves to steal vehicles without using keys, was found in the crashed Ford Focus.
Police said they are yet to identify the other offenders but are still working to track them down.
