Thursday 3 October 2013

Redcar motorbike driver sent pedestrians jumping out of way as he raced from police

Aaron Smith made his 25th court appearance after speeding off from chasing police amid heavy, slow-moving traffic and numerous pedestrians
Teesside Crown Court
Teesside Crown Court
A manic driver who sent pedestrians jumping out of his path as he raced a motorbike away from police is behind bars today.

“It was a miracle nobody was killed,” said Judge Michael Taylor.

He jailed the banned motorist with a penchant for tearing around the streets on stolen motorbikes.
Drunken Aaron Smith, 22, attacked the owner of the recently bought £1,600 KTM motorbike on Scott Street, Redcar.

He sped off from chasing police amid heavy, slow-moving traffic and numerous pedestrians, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

He narrowly missed vehicles he overtook and rapidly turned in front of a police car.
Pedestrians crossing a residential side street had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over, said prosecutor Martin Robertshaw.
Smith lost control and came off the bike, which slid towards oncoming traffic.
Smith himself rolled and crashed into a plastic bollard on a traffic island, with such force that the bollard was flung into the air.

The joyrider remounted the damaged bike and carried on his “manic” ride, briefly out of the police’s sight.

He eventually dropped the vehicle in the middle of the road in the Cedar Grove and Laburnum Road area and ran to a nearby house where he was arrested on the late afternoon of June 15.
Smith, of Laburnum Road, Redcar, admitted dangerous driving, vehicle taking, common assault and driving while disqualified.

This was his 25th court appearance after a long record, mainly of vehicle crime.
Just a fortnight before the latest escapade, magistrates gave him a 20-week suspended prison sentence for a similar incident of aggravated vehicle taking.

His barrister Nigel Soppitt said Smith came across as “a very likeable young man”.
He said Smith accepted he was “wholly reckless” and showed a total disregard for other road users.
Not wearing a helmet, he “stuck out like a sore thumb”
Judge Michael Taylor told Smith: “You drove in the most foolhardy and dangerous manner.
“There were numerous pedestrians about and you were weaving in and out between pedestrians and motor vehicles.”

He said magistrates were brave to give Smith a suspended sentence in May, and that made his latest crimes more serious.

He added: “’Ive got no choice other than to lock you up today.”
He jailed Smith for 60 weeks and banned him from driving for two years.

Article from Gazette Live
 http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/redcar-motorbike-driver-sent-pedestrians-6124648

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