A driver high on cocaine and cannabis tried to reverse into a pursuing police car – but succeeded only in crashing into a bridge.
Paul Cawthra, branded an “idiot” by a Crown Court judge, tried to evade cops at a relative snail’s pace in his Ford Galaxy as police merely “followed” his vehicle, said prosecutor Rob Galley.
In stark contrast to the usual high-octane police chase, Cawthra’s attempts at shrugging off police on country roads in Harrogate descended into farce due to his “intoxicated” state, York Crown Court heard.
At one stage during the ‘pursuit’ – described by judge Sean Morris as “the slowest police chase I’ve had to deal with” – Cawthra switched his lights off in a futile attempt to evade police.
But then he switched them back on again.
When the inevitable happened and he was at stopped at Turner Bridge on Nought Bank Road in Pateley Bridge, Cawthra’s next move was to reverse at a police car and attempt to squeeze past the vehicle, but he ended up crashing into the bridge. He was then blocked in by the police vehicles and duly arrested.
Cawthra, 44, told officers:
“Boy, I feel a cxxx for what I’ve done to you.”
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He told officers he had reversed towards the police car because he had been drinking and “to knock the air bag out to get away”.
But the court heard he was one-and-a-half times the specified limit for cannabis and three times the specified limit for cocaine.
He was charged with dangerous and drug-driving and ultimately admitted the offences.
He appeared for sentence yesterday after admitting dangerous driving while over the specified limit for cocaine and cannabis.
Previous convictions
Mr Galley said Cawthra had “deliberately driven at the police”.
Cawthra, of Southlands, Pateley Bridge, had previous convictions for drug possession and cannabis cultivation.
His solicitor advocate Neil Cutte said police had merely followed, rather than chased, Cawthra’s vehicle after he failed to stop, but there was no high-speed chase and no other motorists or pedestrians around during the bizarre, late-night incident.
He said that Cawthra, a father-of-one who works as a labourer in the construction industry, was remorseful and had since changed his ways. His employer described him as “honest, reliable and hard-working, a really nice bloke”.
Judge Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, told Cawthra:
“You are an idiot. You got yourself intoxicated on drugs and when police ordered you to stop, you didn’t.
“There was a slow-speed ‘following’ of your car from Pateley Bridge out to the ‘sticks’, late at night. You briefly had your lights out, put them back on again and reversed back towards a police car, crashing into a bridge.
“Ordinarily, everybody who flees from police goes to prison in this court, but ordinarily they are flying through housing estates in built-up areas. There was none of that here and the first thing you did when you got out of your car was to offer a profuse apology to the police officers.”
The judge said that because of this, allied to the fact that Cawthra had pleaded guilty and was a hard-working man with caring responsibilities, he could suspend the inevitable prison sentence.
The six-month sentence was suspended for a year.
Cawthra was also given a 12-month driving ban and ordered to pay £330 prosecution costs.
