JAILED: Driver demolished wall in police chase crash leaving him and passenger trapped
A man who was left trapped with serious injuries after he crashed a stolen car into a wall in the Black Country has been jailed for 21 months.
Reece Jones did not realise the Audi Quattro had been stolen in London almost a month earlier when he was loaned it by a friend to get home after having a hair cut, a judge was told.
But he knew he had neither insurance nor a valid driving licence after being released early from jail where he had been serving a sentence for robbery, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
WATCH: Video shows aftermath of crash
So the 24-year-old put his foot down when a police patrol started to follow him along Great Bridge Road, Tipton on the afternoon of October 4 after spotting the car was on false plates, said Mr Neil Ahuja, prosecuting.
Alarmed witnesses estimated the £16,000 high-powered Audi was travelling at between 60 and 90mph on a wet surface as it flashed past them down the street and turned into Bradley Lane, Bradley, where Jones lost control and skidded into a garden wall after overtaking numerous vehicles.
The crash demolished the wall, wrecked a set of electric gates - causing an estimated £5,000 damage - and wrote off the car, continued Mr Ahuja.
Jones was trapped for around 30 minutes and had to be cut free by firefighters along with his passenger.
The impact broke both legs of the defendant who is still on crutches.
His passenger also needed hospital treatment but refused to release his medical records and declined to support the prosecution case, it was said.
Traffic was brought to a standstill on Bradley Lane as police shut the road in the aftermath of the crash.
Mr Andrew Jackson, defending, said a friend allowed Jones, who had just had his hair cut, to drive the car in the rain not knowing it had been stolen.
Jones, from Windsor Road, Tipton, who had 12 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and not having insurance or a valid licence and was jailed by Judge James Burbidge QC who told him: "Witnesses said you came out of nowhere and flew past them on wet roads at speeds of up to 80 or 90mph - and the inevitable happened.
"You crashed causing £5,000 damage and writing off the £16,000 car."
