A serial driving offender has been jailed for putting lives at risk during a high-speed police chase through Knaresborough.
Liam Edmondson, 26, a white-collar boxer, sped off when a traffic officer spotted him driving his VW Golf while using a hand-held mobile phone and tried to pull him over at traffic lights.
But Edmonson ignored the flashing blue lights and sped off, prosecutor Rachael Landin told York Crown Court.
Edmondson drove at speeds of up to 90mph in restricted zones as he overtook vehicles, shot straight over junctions and at one stage drove on the wrong side of the road in midday traffic.
Eventually, following the chase along High Street and York Road, he abandoned the vehicle in a street of Kingfisher Road, ran off and jumped over a boundary fence in a residential garden into a neighbouring property.
However, a neighbour’s ring doorbell provided video footage of Edmondson’s escape and he was identified by one of the pursuing officers.
Edmondson, of Pasture Crescent, Knaresborough, was charged with dangerous driving, using a hand-held mobile phone, driving while disqualified and without insurance.
He ultimately admitted all the offences – albeit claiming he was driving at lesser speeds than alleged – and appeared for sentence yesterday.
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Ms Landin said that Edmondson, a fighter in Ultra White-Collar Boxing, had sped through 30mph and 40mph zones during the chase involving two police vehicles on March 3.
Edmonson had failed to slow down even at junctions as he sped and failed to give way to other vehicles as he drove on the wrong side of the road. He was driving so fast that a pursuing police car, travelling at over 90mph, lost sight of the Volkswagen as they approached a roundabout.
Ms Landin said:
“The defendant’s vehicle was found abandoned outside a property (near Kingfisher Road).”
Edmondson’s eight previous convictions comprised 16 offences including many driving matters and serious violence. They included failing to stop after an accident, driving without a licence and insurance, and careless driving.
In April he received a two-year community order for assault occasioning actual bodily harm after knocking a rugby player unconscious inside a bar in Harrogate.
The victim in that case was out drinking with his rugby mates when he was involved in a “heated discussion” with Edmondson in the men’s toilets.
Edmondson, a self-employed labourer, struck him in the face and the victim was knocked out. The next thing the victim remembered was being woken by police officers while laid out on the floor. He suffered “severe” facial injuries.
Defence barrister Eleanor Durdy said that Edmondson, a father-of-one, had raised a lot of money for charity through his involvement with Ultra White-Collar Boxing.
A representative for the charity boxing organisation provided a character reference attesting to the fact that Edmondson had trained very hard for his fights and raised money for cancer research.
Judge Sean Morris blasted Edmondson for his reckless driving which had put the lives of police officers and the general public at risk.
Mr Morris added:
“This was midday and there would have been children about.
“You were undertaking ridiculous driving manoeuvres. You could have killed a police officer and that is why dangerous-driving police chases are so very dangerous.”
Edmondson was jailed for 11 months and given a 17-month driving ban.
