Disqualified Leeds driver sped into oncoming traffic during dangerous police chase through Morley

Stuart Pennington-Smith, 41, crashed into a police vehicle, drove the wrong way down a carriageway and reached speeds of 50mph in a 30mph zone as he tried to shake off officers.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Pennington-Smith was driving a BMW in Morley on September 27 last year at about 1pm. Police officers became aware of the vehicle, which had cloned number plates and had been stolen in a burglary, and they followed it onto the A650.

When police signalled for him to stop, the defendant tried to pull out quickly and crashed into the back of the police car - which prosecutors accepted was an accident. Pennington-Smith then drove the BMW over the central reservation, heading into oncoming traffic.

Prosecuting, Louise Catherine Pryke said other drivers had to “swerve to avoid him” and “take evasive action” as he led police in a pursuit. He drove at more than 50mph down Topcliffe Lane, a 30mph zone, before finding himself in a dead end.

He abandoned the car and officers chased him on foot through a field, over a barbed wire fence and into residential gardens, before he was eventually tackled to the ground and arrested. When interviewed by the police, Pennington-Smith said it was “five minutes of pure madness” and admitted “he knew it was dangerous”.

Pennington-Smith, of Raylands Lane, Middleton, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified at an earlier hearing. He also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified on two earlier dates, July 27 and August 31 last year, when he claims he was unaware of his disqualification, as he had recently moved home and had not received the letters.

Pennington-Smith admitted he knew he was disqualified at the time of the police chase in September. He said he had borrowed his friend’s BMW to price up a gardening job and pick up his child, unaware it was stolen.

Mitigating, Rachel Webster said: “He wishes to express his absolute sincere and utter apologies to the court and any individuals he has affected. He is gobsmacked that it is him driving in that footage.”

Passing his sentencing remarks, the judge, Recorder David Gordon, said: “That’s an appalling piece of driving. It’s really only by good luck that nobody was injured or killed. It’s not as if it's in the middle of the night with nobody around, it’s in broad daylight - it’s quite shocking.

“You really couldn’t complain if I sent you to prison - there is a great deal of concern about dangerous driving in this area.”

Pennington-Smith, a father-of-two, has no previous convictions and the court heard that he suffers from a chronic lung disease which makes it difficult for him to work.

Taking this into consideration as well as his early guilty pleas, the judge sentenced him to 10 months in custody, suspended for 18 months. He was also disqualified from driving for two years and imposed with a curfew for four months.