A DRIVER caught fleeing the police by cutting across cars at excess speeds on the A34 has been jailed.

On September 26, a white Ford Transit van known to police for previous offences was spotted on the dual carriageway and officers decided to pull the vehicle.

However, driver John Joyce tried to evade police and started driving over 40mph down the road, cutting across vehicles, for just over five minutes.

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He eventually collided with a large van on a slip road before getting out of the vehicle and running away on foot.

At Oxford Crown Court on Monday (December 11), he was handed a 17-month prison sentence for dangerous driving and a host of other offences including theft, driving without due care and attention, making off without payment, and driving without third-party insurance.

Opening the case, prosecutor Helen Rodgers said the 26-year-old had been on bail at the time of the offence has he has previously handed himself into police in August for theft offences.

He was caught on May 16 stealing four planters worth £1,000 from the Missing Bean Coffee Shop in Oxford.

Joyce was later caught on August 15 stealing scrap metal from Wedgewood CRC Limited, a collision repair centre in Bicester.

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On August 29, he was caught driving without due care and attention in Weirs Lane, Oxford when police recognised his vehicle and tried to stop him.

He handed himself in a day later, stating he had tried to flee because he was ‘fearful of his life’.

Released on bail, Joyce then filled his vehicle with £100 worth of diesel at the Shell Garage in London Road, Bicester on September 9 and made off without paying before being caught driving dangerously on September 26.

On both driving offences, Joyce was also charged with driving without third-party insurance.

The court heard that he has 11 convictions for 26 offences and was previously handed an eight-month prison term for stealing a car.

Defending Joyce, his barrister stated the young man was still struggling with the death of his older brother who died in June 2020.

He also suggested he may have some educational needs which had not been diagnosed due to his first offence occurring when he was just 13-years-old.

Sentencing Joyce, of Red Bridge Hollow and Old Abingdon Road, Judge Maria Lamb said: “I take into account your personal difficulties.

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“I take into account there has been an impact on you because of your bereavement and I take into account that you have now married a responsible young woman.”

Joyce has also been disqualified from driving for two years and nine months.