Teen led police on 105mph chase

Recorder Simon Batiste said it was one of the worst cases of dangerous driving imaginable and it was “pure luck” boy racer Brandon Bland (19) had not killed or hurt anyone.

During the chase, the Audi A4 being driven by Bland, of Moorhouse Drive, Thurcroft, reached 105mph on East Bawtry Road in Broom, took speed bumps on Green Arbour Road in Thurcroft at 80mph and crashed into parked cars - flipping one into the path of an oncoming police vehicle.

Bland admitted theft, taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, dangerous driving, possession of a bladed article, breaching a community order and driving without insurance or a licence and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Ms Nicola Quinney, prosecuting at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, said Bland had taken his friend Ricky Hobson’s spare car keys on March 31 while Mr Hobson was in the shower.

Three days later, the defendant took the car from the garage he knew Mr Hobson kept the car in.

By the time its disappearance was reported - the next morning at 8.30am - the car had already been involved in the police chase.

Ms Quinney said police had first tried to pull Bland over for dangerous driving at 4.40am in Swallownest but he failed to stop.

Officers in a second police car spotted the father-of-one at 5.05am and gave chase when he drove off.

Bland’s high-speed 15-and-a-half mile drive took in Thurcroft, Wickersley and stretches of Sheffield Parkway and Mosborough Parkway, said Ms Quinney.

He raced along Toad Lane, a rural road with narrow bends between Thurcroft and Brampton-en-le-Morthen, at 60mph and entered Wickersley’s 30mph area at 75mph, before reaching up to 105mph on East Bawtry Road.

Ms Quinney said: “He was travelling at 80mph when he attempted to turn left.

“That caused another driver to drive on the wrong side to avoid a collision.”

The car mounted footpaths, was driven in the wrong direction and, to stop the police from overtaking, Bland steered between vehicles on Sheffield Parkway.

“He lost control of the vehicle going 95mph round a bend and clipped a parked Renault Clio, which overturned it into the path of the following police,” the prosecutor added.

The Audi crashed into a parked van and Bland was arrested, but had to be taken to hospital as he was injured.

A multi-tool with locking knife was found in his coat pocket, which he said he had used for DIY weeks earlier and had “forgotten it was there”.

Bland was on a community order at the time after breaking a woman’s jaw.

He also had previous convictions for violence and dishonesty dating back to 2013.

He was sentenced to 27 months in prison for dangerous driving - half to be served on licence - with sentences for the other matters to run concurrently, and was disqualified from driving for three-and-a-half years and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.