Prison for Rugby man who drove 80mph in a 30, mounted pavement outside a primary school and rammed police car

Joe Partridge, who even drove along the pavement outside a primary school during the pursuit, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to dangerous driving and driving without insurance.

Partridge (20) of Houston Road, Rugby, was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for three years and nine months.

Prosecutor Ilana Davis said that at 2pm on January 22 police officers on patrol in the Brownsover area of Rugby heard the sound of a motorbike revving and went to investigate.

When they turned into Copeland they saw Partridge lifting an off-road scrambler motorbike onto the back of a Ford Ranger pick-up.

On seeing the police car, Partridge jumped in to the cab of the Ranger and drove off across the pavement and a grass verge, causing the scrambler to fall off the back of the pick-up.

“There was then a ten-minute pursuit, and he drove at speeds of up to 80 in 30mph residential areas and nearly 90 in a 60 limit.”

During the chase he went through red lights on the wrong side of the road and mounted pavements, including one outside a primary school, and a dog-walker had to jump out of his way to avoid being hit.

At one point Partridge stopped, but when the police car pulled up behind him, he reversed the pick-up into the front of it so hard that the airbags activated, and the officers were unable to continue the pursuit.

Miss Davis pointed out that the Ranger was on false number plates, having been stolen a week earlier, but Partridge denied a further charge of driving it knowing it was stolen.

The court heard that Partridge had convictions for 32 offences, including two of dangerous driving and two of aggravated vehicle taking.

Graeme Simpson, defending, said: “I put forward no mitigation for this offence, it speaks for itself.”

He conceded that Partridge had ‘relevant convictions,’ but said there were signs he was starting to mature, having got full-time employment as a gardener, and he had a stable partner with whom he had a young child.

And submitting that the sentence could be suspended, Mr Simpson added that there was ‘an indication of remorse.’

But jailing Partridge, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “I am going to begin with that point. Mr Simpson asks me to give serious consideration to suspending the prison sentence he concedes is inevitable.

“The factors I have to consider are ‘does the defendant pose a risk of danger to the public?’ Undoubtedly you do. ‘And is a custodial sentence inevitable?’ Yes.

“What you did was as bad as dangerous driving can get without something happening which makes it a more serious offence.

“This is one of the cases that demonstrates that the two-year maximum sentence for dangerous driving is far too low and needs to be looked at.

“There were times when you left the carriageway and mounted the pavement and the verge, and you went through red lights and past a school in a 20mph area at high speed.

“I am asked to think about your child. But I am thinking about other people’s children.

“And three times you put it into reverse to ram the police car, and on the third occasion you caused such damage that it was unfit to continue the pursuit.

“Unless you very quickly do the maturing Mr Simpson suggests is necessary, you will kill or maim somebody.”