Jail for dangerous driver who crashed Peugeot on Iffley Road

Ryan Woolcock, 27, who was last before the courts for dangerous driving in 2018 and has never passed his test, had made off from a police car on the Abingdon Road at 11.30pm on April 9.

The sergeant behind the wheel of the patrol car had tailed him from the ring road, after seeing him driving erratically, breaking ‘inappropriately’ and taking his Peugeot 207 too close to the kerb.

When the officer illuminated his car’s blue lights, Woolcock sped off, jumped the red lights and turned right towards Donnington Bridge.

A dashboard camera in the pursuing police car showed the officer was forced to accelerate to 73mph on Donnington Bridge Road, which has a 30mph limit, in an attempt to catch up with the hatchback.

The pursuit was short-lived. Woolcock tried to turn left onto Iffley Road, but overshot and struck a taxi.

One of the two passengers in the cab suffered a broken neck, leaving him worried even about walking in case he fell. The other passenger – a postman now unable to complete his former round - suffered whiplash.

The taxi driver incurred minor injuries and was forced to replace his cab at a cost of more than £60,000.

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver told Oxford Crown Court that, although the sergeant arrived at the crash scene within seconds, Woolcock had already got out of his car and was hiding behind the vehicle.

Leaving behind his partner and the occupants of the taxi, he tried to run from the carnage he had caused but was detained by the police.

Blood tests showed he was more than twice the cannabis drug-driving limit. He had no licence or insurance.

CCTV footage from a nearby B&B showed that a cyclist had passed where, seconds later, Woolcock's Peugeot would end up.

Alluding to that cyclist, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “That is a residential area. There are houses all around. There are people on the pavement. We saw a cyclist who passed by who you almost certainly [would have] killed had he been 30 seconds later."

He jailed the driver for two-and-a-half years and banned him from driving for three years and three months. Woolcock must pass an extended retest if he wants to drive lawfully.

Even before he appeared before Oxford Magistrates’ Court last month, where Woolcock, of Mogridge Drive, Littlemore, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drug driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving without insurance or a licence, he had written a letter of apology to his victims.

“I’m not a bad guy,” he said in the letter, read to the crown court by his barrister Emma Hornby. He explained that he had not gone out that night to ‘get into trouble’.

Apologising for his actions and asking ‘for forgiveness for any injuries, days off work and any other inconveniences’ he had caused, Woolcock added: “It will never happen again.”

Ms Hornby described the defendant’s decision to drive that night as ‘exceptionally stupid’, prompted by a need to get out after a disagreement with his mother over childcare arrangements.

The car was his own, bought in expectation of passing his driving test – and having passed the theory examination, the judge was told.

Woolcock had experienced ‘significant trauma’ as a child, began smoking cannabis at eight years old and was expelled from school at 11.

However, recently he had started to turn his life around. He had a supportive partner, with whom he had a young child.

Ryan Woolcock's custody shot Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward