A notorious Harrogate man has been jailed after he sped from police in his powerful Ford Ranger, narrowly missing oncoming vehicles and an elderly pedestrian crossing the road.

Ethan Wells-Smith, 33, was driving his grey pick-up-style vehicle out of Knaresborough when police in a marked car noticed he was driving with only a provisional licence, York Crown Court heard.

Officers switched on the blue lights and sirens for Wells-Smith to stop, but he put his foot down and sped away in the Ranger onto the A658, driving in the middle of the road and causing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Prosecutor Oliver Kilvington said: 

The Ranger then sped up to 70mph, again travelling in the centre of the road, as it approached the roundabout at the St James Retail Park in Knaresborough.

Wells-Smith again took the roundabout against the flow of traffic, causing other motorists to steer out of the way of the speeding vehicle.

He then turned left onto the A59 at the Goldsborough roundabout, again in the middle of the road, causing motorists to take emergency evasive action to avoid a collision.

He then drove “aggressively” around two more roundabouts, then sped through a 30mph zone in Chain Lane at 50mph, narrowly avoiding an elderly pedestrian crossing the road.

He then took a sharp right turn onto Park Lane where he mounted a kerb to drive around an oncoming vehicle.

The Ranger then went down a single-track lane towards a series of farms, then sped into a farmyard with a 5mph limit at about 40mph.

Mr Kilvington said:

Kestrel roundabout

Wells-Smith then drove onto another narrow farm track which was practically impassable for ordinary vehicles, forcing police to abort the pursuit of the Ranger, which had off-road capabilities.

Officers found it abandoned and locked further down the track a short time later, with Wells-Smith nowhere to be seen.

However, his running off proved futile as police were able to trace the vehicle to his address and midway through the six-mile, 10-minute chase, at the Kestrel roundabout, a police community support officer happened to be on patrol and got a good look at the fleeing motorist.

Wells-Smith, of Dacre Banks, was finally arrested on December 30 last year, more than a month after the high-speed chase on the morning of November 28.

He refused to answer police questions and confirm that he was the driver.

He was charged with dangerous driving, failing to give information relating to the identification of the driver and driving without a proper licence.

Wells-Smith took the case to a trial at York Magistrates’ Court in July when he was convicted of all three offences in his absence, having failed to turn up.

The PCSO who spotted him at the Kestrel roundabout testified that Wells-Smith was the man he saw behind the wheel of the fleeing Ranger.

Wells-Smith was arrested again on a warrant for his no-show at court and was supposed to appear at the magistrates’ court again on July 29 after being remanded in custody, but refused to leave his cell.

He was duly committed to the Crown Court where he appeared for sentence today (August 19) via prison video link.

Mr Kilvington said that during the police chase, Wells-Smith sped straight over junctions, overtook several vehicles and “erratically” swerved around moving and parked cars.

Wells-Smith, of Church View, Dacre to Summerbridge, was the registered keeper of the Ranger but only had a provisional licence. He had never held a full driving licence.

Previous convictions

He already had an appalling record for serious motoring offences. His rap sheet, dating back to 2012, comprised 37 previous offences.

They included dangerous driving, drink-driving and using a vehicle without insurance and a licence, for which he received a three-year driving ban in March 2014.

In that incident, in November 2013, he had been out drinking with his family in a local pub when he decided to take the keys to his father’s van and drove the vehicle home while over the legal alcohol limit. While doing so, he crashed the van and damaged two other vehicles.

His most serious driving offence was causing serious injury by dangerous driving while drink-driving and driving while disqualified in January 2017. For those offences, as well as aggravated vehicle-taking, he was given a 30-month prison sentence and a four-year driving ban.

In that incident, Wells-Smith took a car belonging to a woman he knew but without permission and then caused a five-vehicle pile-up which resulted in someone being seriously injured.

In July 2022, he was back out on the roads and driving while disqualified, and with no insurance or a licence. For those offences he was given a suspended jail sentence and a two-year driving ban.

'Sheer panic'

His solicitor, Neil Cutte, said that Wells-Smith had failed to stop for police during his latest wild motoring escapade in Knaresborough “out of sheer panic” because he knew he shouldn’t have been driving with only a provisional licence.

Judge Simon Hickey slammed Wells-Smith for yet another piece of dangerous driving and said he had “no regard” for the rules of the road and had put “so many” motorists and pedestrians at risk, as well as farm workers and the police.

Mr Hickey added:

Wells-Smith was jailed for 15 months and given a three-year driving ban.