Dangerous driver led cops on high speed chase through Mansfield

Police spotted a crack in the windscreen of Dwain Smith’s black Seat Leon on Carter Lane, but when they slowed to speak to him, he drove off, at 5.20pm, on Sunday, April 8.

He failed to stop when they turned on their lights and accelerated through red lights.

“Police officers reached speeds of 60mph in an attempt to catch up,” said prosecutor Emma Heath-Tilford.

“Due to local knowledge they were able to anticipate where he would go and they caught up with him again on Southwell Road West.”

But Smith was travelling so fast the officers lost him twice again, the court heard.

“Officers were reliant on members of the public who directed them to the Berry Hill estate,” Ms Heath-Tilford added.

“Some people had even stopped their cars to tell them where the car had gone.”

Smith was later caught after he crashed the car on Nottingham Road, and tried to run away across a field.

Officers described his driving as “erratic”, at high speeds, and said it was a clear attempt to escape from them.

Smith’s girlfriend was also in the vehicle at the time, but he only had a provisional licence and was not displaying ‘L’ plates.

The court heard he had a previous conviction in relation to a community order for dissimilar matters in 2011.

Chris Perry, mitigating, said: “The cessation of his offending for seven years shows you that he is changing for the better.

“It’s that which shows that he is capable of behaving better. He has let himself down and made a mess of things.”

He said Smith, a carpet fitter, had been about to receive a promotion, which would have doubled his wages, and he had been planning to get a mortgage in the summer.

On the day of the offence, he had been offered £60 to fit a friend’s carpet and was driving there in a car which he had just bought, in anticipation of a driving test booked ten days later.

“At that point he decided there was too much at stake for him to be caught,” Mr Perry said.

“It represents a a massive risk to the public. It stands to reason there were other members of the public on the road.

“Thankfully there was no injury or damage to speak of for anyone else.

“He took an unjustified risk. It was purely a panicked, dreadful decision.”

Smith, 27, of Ravensdale Road, admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving without a licence or insurance, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

Magistrates decided their sentencing powers were insufficient, and he was granted unconditional bail to appear at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on May 16.