A drunk driver who stole a police car while handcuffed as he searched for his dog after a crash has been jailed.
Two British Transport Police constables were handing over a missing girl to her parents on a bridge over the M6 in South Cumbria when drama unfolded at 12.45am on November 19 2023.
As one PC chatted to the girl’s father, he heard the loud screeching of tyres behind him and watched as a BMW crashed into barriers within the interchange roundabout at Junction 36 and flipped several times before stopping.
The officers then watched as drunk driver Keiran James George walked away unharmed, saying: “I don’t know what happened there.”
Intoxicated George, 33, was desperately looking for his dog, Winkles, which had run from the car unhurt. The powerfully-built personal trainer then became violent and resisted officers as they tried to apply handcuffs.
As a public-spirited married couple from Lancashire stopped to try and help, they saw George fighting with the constables, one of whom deployed a short burst of incapacitant spray.
A handcuff was placed on George’s wrist and he was taken to a patrol car. But as officers searched for a radio lost in the earlier scuffle, George climbed from the rear of their car into the driver’s seat and made off with sirens and blue lights activated, despite being cuffed, with the keys having been left inside.
The officers hitched a ride with the married couple in pursuit of George, who hit an estimated 90-100mph while travelling on the motorway from junction 36 to 35 and then back again, before returning the patrol vehicle, a Peugeot 3008.
Police later issued a public appeal asking for help to trace George before he was prosecuted.
At Carlisle Crown Court today he admitted aggravated vehicle taking, escape, driving while disqualified and assaulting one officer by throwing him to the ground. George, of Highgate, Kendal, had been banned from driving twice in the recent past for alcohol-related offences.
George had described being “incredibly intoxicated” and remembering little of what occurred. His barrister, Sarah Magill, said: “It should never have been possible for him to drive off in a police car but he should not have done it.”
Recorder Julian Shaw observed that what had happened was extraordinary. He jailed George for 14 months. A 31-month driving ban was imposed and George must complete an extended re-test before his driving licence is returned.
