A driver caught by a tenacious police constable who waded into a river as the suspect tried to flee on foot has been jailed.
Shane Reid, 23, came to the attention of Cumbria Constabulary at 11.30pm on April 5 last year.
They were contacted by Police Scotland who reported that Reid, a banned driver, had been spotted driving a silver Transit van towards Longtown.
A constable then saw Reid inside his van in the High Street area of the town. Reid’s van lights were switched off and, when seen driving at speed, the officer started to follow.
The van reached around 48mph in a 30mph zone, slowing briefly at a junction, before Reid drove away along the A7 and on to country roads.
He attempted to flee the officer’s vehicle — illuminated with blue lights — for 10 minutes, at one stage speeding blind through a junction near a farmhouse.
As the van turned into a farm lane, Reid rammed a closed gate and continued despite the track being muddy and waterlogged.
But when it was clear that the van could move no further, Reid jumped out and ran away.
He crossed a field and then began wading through a river to the opposite bank.
“But the officer kept pursuing the defendant,” prosecutor George Shelley had told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court during an April hearing. “The defendant finally gave himself up and apologised.”
At that time Reid, who lives near Kirkpatrick Fleming, was subject to an 18-month driving ban for earlier offending. This had been imposed several months earlier.
Reid admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and no insurance.
He was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court this morning when a judge heard he had been punished earlier this year for more recent driving offending.
A defence lawyer said Reid ran a roofing business with employees which would fold if he was sent to prison. Reid had apologised and asked for one chance to prove himself in the community.
But Judge Michael Fanning said custody was the only option. “It is persistent. It is deliberate,” he concluded of last April’s incident.
“You are somebody who thinks the rules of the road don’t apply to you,” added Judge Fanning of Reid’s repeat offending.
“It is a risk in the extreme. You don’t care if you are going to injure or kill (others). All you think about is you.”
Reid was given an immediate 10-month jail term. When released he must serve a two-year driving ban and complete an extended retest before travelling again on public roads.
