Sutton drug dealer jailed after high-speed police chase

Police signalled for Jake Hardy to pull over at 7pm, on May 19, last year, but he drove off through a built-up area, failing to give way on a mini-roundabout and as he turned on to Kingsway.

He reached 60mph in a 40mph zone, overtaking two cars as he went, and veering on the wrong side of two keep-left bollards, said prosecutor Stuart Lody.

He drove through a red traffic signal and into a pedestrian area," he said. "If a car had been coming through the junction there would inevitably have been a crash.

"He caused a woman on a bike to swerve."

When the car came to a stop after hitting a bollard, Hardy ran, but was caught by officers.

A search of his home address uncovered £90 of cannabis, and his mobile phone showed he had offered to sell cannabis, heroin and cocaine to a small group of people, on 17 occasions.

On July 26, Hardy was arrested while riding a moped and a search of his family home revealed a man-bag containing a small amount of heroin and 13 grams of cocaine, split into 50 wraps.

"If that wasn't enough, on November 12 officers executed a search warrant and found 7.12 grams of heroin and 22.2 grams of cocaine," Mr Lody added.

Drug paraphernalia, weapons and more than £2,000 in cash were seized.

The court heard he has previous convictions for "relatively minor traffic matters" and shop theft.

Adrian Reynolds, mitigating, said a probation officer described Hardy as a "naive, vulnerable individual" who was "easily led."

"He has clearly been put under pressure to deal drugs," he said. "When he was caught he was told to carry on doing it.

"If you lose money belonging to these people you have got to pay it back and the only way to pay it back is to go deeper and deeper into the same kind of behaviour.

"He was only 17 when the first set of sentences. He recently had his 19th birthday. He is young for his age and far from streetwise."

"The only way Nottingham prison can cope with this is locking people in their cells for 23 hours a day.," Mr Reynolds told the court.

"He has no visits. Before the lockdown he was accessing education and trying to better himself."

On Friday, Nottingham Crown Court heard he had spent three months on remand.

Hardy, 19, of York Street, Sutton, pleaded guilty to supplying, and possessing with intent to supply, Class A and B drugs, dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance.

Judge Julie Warburton told him: "I accept that you had a difficult childhood and you were susceptible to older, more experienced criminal individuals.

"You undoubtedly became indebted to your supplier and were unable to break out of this cycle."

She sentenced him to four years and five months in custody. He was banned from driving for 35 and a half months.