Drink driver who also snorted cocaine in four-mile speed police chase through Coventry - The Coventry Observer

Drink driver who also snorted cocaine in four-mile speed police chase through Coventry

Coventry Editorial 4th Jun, 2018   0

When the police stopped a driver following a four-and-a-half-mile chase through Coventry, they found two open packets of cocaine in the car.

And John Davies was jailed after a judge heard he was over the legal alcohol limit and admitted he had also taken three lines of the cocaine.

Davies (32) of St Bernards Walk, Willenhall, Coventry, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to dangerous driving, possessing cocaine, and driving with excess alcohol.

He was jailed for 12 months by Recorder Sam Mainds, who also banned him from driving for three-and-a-half years.




Prosecutor Michael Shaw said: “This was a high-speed police chase at night in wet conditions in a concerted attempt to get away.”

Mr Shaw explained that at shortly before 1am on April 18, police officers in Langbank Avenue, Coventry, saw a VW Scirocco coming towards them at speed.


As they turned to try to stop him, Davies sped up and turned into Allard Way without slowing down at a give way junction.

With Davies doing 60 on a 40mph road, the officers put on their blue light as they pursued him along London Road and then Daventry Road, which was described as ‘a small suburban street.’

In William Bristow Road, Davies stopped dead in the middle of the road.

But when the officers got out of their car to go over to him, he put the VW in reverse and reversed straight past them and across the junction with Black Prince Avenue at speed.

“It was obviously a dangerous manoeuvre because he was going backwards at speed from a minor road into a major road.”

The pursuit continued with Davies going through a red light, almost into the path of an artic, at the junction of Kenilworth Road and the A45, before he was eventually stopped in Woodside Avenue.

When he was arrested it was apparent he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and there were two open packages of cocaine in the car.

A breath test showed Davies had an alcohol reading of 47, compared to the legal limit of 35, ‘but more significantly, he seemed to be intoxicated from drugs.”

Davies, who said he had drunk three beers and taken three lines of cocaine, told the officers: “It’s not like me. I don’t normally do that. My partner’s with another man.”

Mr Shaw added that Davies had previous convictions for possessing cannabis and for possessing a class A drug, and at the time was subject to a suspended sentence for harassment.

After reading a pre-sentence report on him, Recorder Mainds told Davies: “I am always loath to impose immediate custodial sentences, particularly on men who are in work.

“But in my view your driving on this occasion was appalling, particularly reversing into the path of a police car and then reversing into a major road out of a minor road in an attempt to escape.

“You were clearly using the cocaine you had in your possession.

“The idea of people driving around in any event, let alone in a built-up area, when they are high on drugs and high on alcohol is something we are all fearful of.

“I would be failing in my duty to the public if I did not lock you up immediately.”

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