Young Bedford dad jailed after leading polie on dangerous car chase

Liam McClean, 20, had his pregnant girlfriend and three others in a Skoda which he drove through red lights, on the wrong side of the road and at speeds of 60 mph in residential areas.

Luton Crown Court heard McClean, who had taken cocaine, had just bought the car for £75. He had no licence or insurance and panicked when the police ordered him to stop.

Prosecutor Charles Judge said he went through red lights in Ampthill Road, Bedford. He overtook vehicles at speed, driving on the wrong side of the road.

He went over a blind hill on the wrong side of the road. Police deployed a ‘stinger’ to burst his tyres and brought him to a halt outside the Catholic Church in Bedford Road, Kempston.

He gave a zero reading for alcohol, but a positive test for cocaine. When questioned he admitted he never even had a provisional driving licence and accepted his driving was dangerous.

McClean, of Hartwell Drive, Kempston, appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while under the influence of drugs, having no licence and no insurance.

Defending, Richard Purchase said: “He made full and frank admissions. He made a foolish decision to drive home. He panicked when the police came along because he had no insurance and no licence.”

Mr Purchase described him as an immature 20-year-old, who now had a two- month-old child.

Judge Richard Foster said: “You keep referring to what happened as a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a deliberate decision. You had no licence, were not insured and had taken cocaine.

“It is pure luck and good fortune this driving did not end in a fatality.”

He also banned him from driving for two years and months months and ordered him to take an extended test before he gets a licence.