Traffic cops slammed a mechanic who led them on a high-speed chase in a Vauxhall that was belching smoke.
Mechanic Jason Dewsbury narrowly avoided crashing into a horse-drawn carriage leading a funeral cortege on Blackbird Leys Road, having sped down the Eastern Bypass in his getaway bid last month.
The 29-year-old was jailed for 14 months at Oxford Crown Court earlier this week after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and other driving offences.
As reported in the Oxford Mail, an astonished Judge Nigel Daly pondered the danger of going past the phalanx of horses at speed: “Can you imagine what could have happened if those horses had got out of control?
“It would have been utter chaos.”
Welcoming the jail time, traffic cop PC Dan Surman said: “Jason Dewsbury is a habitual dangerous driver, who has continued to drive despite being disqualified and uninsured.
“On this occasion, Dewsbury put members of the public at significant risk and drove extremely dangerously.”
The fact that Dewsbury forced his way past the funeral cortege meant him ‘putting members of the public at serious risk of harm and impacting a family saying goodbye to a loved one’, Mr Surman added.
He said: “Dewsbury’s conviction shows we will always seek to stop, arrest and prosecute people who choose to drive dangerously.
“The sentence Dewsbury received reflects the serious and dangerous nature."
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