A MAN hit two police cars as he tried to get away after stealing a contractor’s van from a Southam building site
Grant Horton was jailed for a total of three years and one month by a judge at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to the theft, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
The 27-year-old, of Cashmore Road, Bedworth, was given 22 months for the theft, with a further 15-months for the driving offences, and was disqualified for four years and five months.
Prosecutor Glyn Samuel said on August 28 a builder arrived on the site off Daventry Road in Southam, at 3.20pm.
After he had left the works Transit van with the key in, Horton, who was at the site wearing a high-vis jacket to give the impression he was working there, jumped in and drove off.
The driver immediately contacted his employers, and a tracker fitted to the Transit was activated.
That showed it going from Southam to the A46 and then heading towards Coventry.
The police were notified, and found Horton parked up in a space outside a business off the A46.
But when Horton saw a police car stop behind him, he reversed out, clipping it and knocking off its wing mirror.
An officer in an unmarked vehicle, which had its blue lights flashing, saw what happened as he approached the scene, so pulled to his offside to block the road – but was rammed by Horton – who was quickly arrested.
Mr Samuel pointed out as a result of the collisions the Transit was written off and there was £1,750 damage to the marked police car and £13,600 damage to the unmarked car.
He added Horton was on licence at the time from a 12-month sentence he had been given in November last year, when he had been banned from driving, for stealing a van from a building site and dangerous driving by ramming police vehicles with it.
Sharon Bahia, defending, said the van had been stolen to honour a drug debt built up since Horton’s release from prison.
