Peterlee man Glen Burdess drove quadbike at police officer

Glen Burdess, who fled after the incident, even had the "arrogance and audacity" to share a police wanted appeal with his picture on his own Facebook page, but failed to hand himself in.

He was later found by police at his own home hiding in bedsheets under a bed, Durham Crown Court heard on Tuesday (April 2).

The 27-year-old from Peterlee was also disqualified from driving for a total of five-and-a-half years after the incident, which he said he "regrets every day".

Glen Burdess. (Image: DURHAM POLICE)

Burdess, who appeared in court via video link, drove the quadbike at police officer PC Stuart Furlonger in his hometown on September 13 last year.

The officer was attending another incident at about 11.20pm when he heard a loud engine noise and found Burdess driving the quad down a footpath.

Prosecutor Rebecca Brown said: “The quadbike was travelling towards PC Furlonger and the police officer made an attempt to stop the defendant by taking a step out to close the gap.

“The defendant failed to stop and instead collided with PC Furlonger.”

The court heard Burdess may have been travelling at about 30mph and dragged the officer four metres before going on to collide with a parked vehicle.

The officer was left needing surgery and had to stay in hospital overnight. He was left with a full leg cast and on crutches.

PC Furlonger believed Burdess’ intention was simply to get away, not necessarily to hit him, Miss Brown said.

He then reversed at other officers who he managed to evade as they decided not to chase him because of his dangerous driving, fearing for their own safety.

Durham Police later posted a wanted persons appeal on their Facebook page, which the court heard Burdess shared from his own account, while failing to hand himself in.

Judge Richard Bennett told him: “You had the arrogance and audacity to share the Facebook post on your own page but didn’t hand yourself in.”

The officer, a keen runner, said in an impact statement said it was “soul destroying that I can’t run” and that he was having to set himself small targets like walking upstairs.

The incident happened while Burdess was on police bail following two other incidents.

The previous December (2022), police had stopped Burdess in a BMW when they approached the vehicle and, suspecting he was under the influence of something, asked him to turn off the car, Miss Brown told the court.

But when he failed to switch off the car and two officers reached in through the opened drivers’ side window to restrain him and cut the ignition themselves, he tried to close the window on their arms and started to reverse away “at speed”.

Miss Brown said: “He started to reverse the car at speed with both officers’ arms both still within the car window. Both had to run with the car to keep up and avoid being dragged.”

One of those officers said they were left “genuinely fearful”.

He admitted a charge of dangerous driving and two charges of assaulting an emergency worker, and was previously found guilty in his absence of assaulting an emergency worker in another attack on January 24, 2023.

That day he was pulled over by police who spotted his vehicle doing a sharp turn in front of them. When they stopped him he was found to have a small packet which he attempted to swallow.

When officers tried to get the object from his mouth, he bit one of their fingers, and kicked another officer who was trying to restrain him.

Mitigating Mr Glenn Gatland said: “He has had no previous experience of prison. He has now been on remand for six months and one week and that has been a very difficult time for him.

“The defendant is very troubled and upset that this injury did occur and PC Furlonger was seriously injured. He says that it that it was not a deliberate act. There was no evidence of alcohol or drugs.”

Burdess told the court he would like to apologise to the officer face-to-face.

Reading a statement he said: “I regret this every day. If I had the chance to apologise to PC Furlough to his face I would like to.”

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Judge Bennet told Burdess: “The most serious of these offences is that of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

“The officer’s assessment was that you had not deliberately tried to hit him. When other officers tried to apprehend you, you used your quadbike as a weapon. They let you drive off fearing for their own safety.

“There was a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road. You had already been spoken to about driving that quadbike around.”

He was jailed for a total of four years and told he must serve at least two before being released on license. He will also receive eight points on his licence and be disqualified from driving for 66 months until he takes an extended test.

Detective Inspector Darren Wild, of Durham Constabulary, said: “What Burdess did that day was nothing short of dangerous. "He knew what he was doing and the damage he could cause, yet he did not care.

"It is of testament to this officer that he has returned to work so quickly.

"I would like to thank all the officers involved in this case for the work they did to catch Burdess. “Thankfully he is now behind bars and hopefully he will realise his actions were completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."