A ‘SCRAPPER’ who’d determined to go straight has been jailed for making off from police while driving back from a wedding celebration.

Just two months before Neil McMahon was caught behind the wheel of the 2018-plate car, he'd received a 10 month suspended sentence for affray.

And on Tuesday, the Oxford Crown Court judge who handed him that reprieve said he’d be failing in his duty if he didn’t send the 32-year-old to prison.

Jailing him for a total of 18 months, Judge Ian Pringle QC urged McMahon: “Make something of your life when you come out.”

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said police officers were driving on Woodstock Road, Oxford, at around 11.30pm on July 6, 2021, when they saw a car coming towards them in the middle of the road.

The officers were forced to swerve into the bus lane to avoid the oncoming Audi. When they u-turned and illuminated their blue lights and sirens, McMahon – who had four passengers in the car – made off at speed.

He turned into St Margaret’s Road, took a left onto Kingston Road and hit 50mph in the 20mph zone. The car was described ‘flying’ over the mini-roundabout at the top of Walton Street.

McMahon ditched the car in Great Clarendon Street but was swiftly caught. He had a small bag of cocaine in his pocket and refused to provide a specimen when he was taken to the police station.

Peter du Feu, mitigating, said his client had been at The Trout Inn, Wolvercote, celebrating another’s wedding on the night of the police chase.

The celebration’s travel arrangements were described as ‘misconceived’ in that one of the guests decided to drive back into town but, half-way down Woodstock Road, McMahon took over at the wheel.

In a letter to the judge, McMahon apologised for finding himself back in the dock, describing it as a ‘reality check’ and he realised the impact of his incarceration on his partner, son and family. “This is a genuine apology for my stupid mistake,” he wrote.

Mr du Feu acknowledged his client – a ‘scrapper’ – had previous convictions for violence, but said he had been out of trouble for some time.

McMahon, of Ferry Hinksey Road, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to dangerous driving, driving without insurance or a licence and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. He was banned from driving for three years and nine months and must pass an extended retest.

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