A young uninsured driver who led police on a chase at speeds of up to 114-miles per hour, was told it was only “pure fortune” no-one was killed.

Jake Crighton, then 22, was at the wheel of a Volkswagen Passat which two patrol officers from the Durham force spotted driving in Murton, heading towards Four Lane Ends, in Hetton-le-Hole, shortly after midnight on January 25 this year.

Durham Crown Court heard that it flagged up on the on-board national police computer system as being without insurance, so the officers applied their vehicle’s blue lights to indicate to the Passat driver to pull up at the roadside.

Crighton, who had three passengers, duly pulled over, but when the police vehicle stopped just ahead, he reversed slightly and accelerated away from the scene.

The Northern Echo:

Jonathan Harley, prosecuting, said a chase followed in wet, rainy conditions through Hetton-le-Hole at up to 65-miles per hour, and on to Houghton-le-Spring, where Crichton took a right turn onto the A690 from the wrong side of a roundabout.

He also travelled up a slip road in the wrong direction and along the wrong side of the dual carriageway, at up to 100mph.

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Crichton then took the slip road onto the A19 at which point the police vehicle was backed by the force helicopter, offering aerial supervision.

He continued along the A19 at speeds of up to 114mph, but then took a slip road to leave the dual carriageway, at Wessington Way, where he went the wrong way around a roundabout.

Mr Harley said there was a “near miss~ with another vehicle as Crichton travelled towards central Sunderland, again on the wrong side of the road.

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He veered right to head across the Queen Alexandra Bridge, before entering an industrial estate, where, after a number of turns, watched over by the helicopter personnel, all four occupants decamped the vehicle.

Crichton was identified as the driver and was arrested before being taken to Peterlee Police Station, where, when interviewed, he made “no comment” replies.

Mr Harley said in a prepared statement the defendant claimed he was not driving the Passat.

But, once the case reached the magistrates’ court, the now 23-year-old defendant, of Kismet Street, Southwick, Sunderland, admitted dangerous driving, failing to provide a breath specimen and driving without insurance.

The court heard that despite 46 convictions for 88 past offences, the defendant has no previous motoring misdemeanours.

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Mr Harley described the offending as, “a prolonged and deliberate evasion of police, at times at excessive speed, but, with no evidence of harm or damage caused.”

Ryan Donoghue, in mitigation, said the offences were committed at a time in the defendant’s life when he was, “at a low”, following the breakdown of a relationship of a few years.

But, MrDonoghue said, the defendant made the decision to drive to see friends in the Fencehouses area and there was an, “initial panic” when police came on the scene.

“What happened after that can only be described as adrenaline taking over.

“He tells me today that he knows he should have stopped and he has sincere regret over where that leaves him.

“He had been making progress since his release from a previous prison sentence.

“Although he has past convictions, there’s nothing of this nature on his record.”

Judge James Adkin told Mr Donoghue: “The problem is that young men drive in this way to avoid police.

“It was, here, good fortune no-one was killed, or I would have been dealing with him now for taking a life.”

Judge Adkin told the defendant: “You did stop for police, briefly, before you then embarked on an exceptionally dangerous piece of driving as you tried to make sure you evaded the police to evade being brought to justice.

“You drove through red lights, on the wrong side of the road, where there were near misses, travelling at up to 114mph on the A19.

“It was a prolonged, persistent, course of bad driving trying to evade the police.”

Imposing a 15-month prison sentence, Judge Adkin reduced the overall jail term by one-third to reflect Crighton’s guilty pleas.

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But, he added: “In cases where young men engage in police chases in cars packed with other young men it has to be an immediate sentence.

“It was only pure chance no-one was killed during the course of this extremely dangerous police chase.”

The judge also banned Crighton from driving for a total of 17 months.