Police chase 70mph teen on parole in stolen car

The Magistrate’s Court was told how passengers in the vehicle were filming the chase on their mobile phones and four patrol cars were involved in bringing the pursuit to a halt.

Megan Lewell, 18, of 23, Clairval Estate, St Peter Port, who had just been released from prison on parole licence, admitted a total of six offences which included driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Crown Advocate Chris Dunford told the court how a woman had parked her grey Audi at Mon Plasir, St Peter Port, at about 7.30pm.

She thought she had locked it but said the keys were in the glove compartment.

There was no damage to the vehicle locks when it was stopped so it was thought that the defendant had just opened the door.

At 2.15am the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre received a report of a vehicle being driven suspiciously.

At 2.40am police officers saw the car being driven in Vale Avenue.

When they put on the blue lights and signalled for the vehicle to stop the speed of the Audi increased and a pursuit was authorised.

Officers said the car’s speed had been between 50mph and 70mph as they followed it along Braye Road and past The Pony Inn.

At Les Petites Capelles it crossed to the wrong side of the road on the filter junction before turning right into Rue Sauvage.

Officers could see a total of four people in the vehicle, two of whom were filming the chase on their mobile phones.

The Audi proceeded along Les Martins, through L’Islet crossroads and on to the Vale Church where a second patrol car joined the pursuit.

As Lewell drove in Route Militaire, going towards Town, she put a finger up to police.

In Vale Road, the car hit a number of waste bins before turning right at the Halfway filter junction. Two more police patrol cars were involved by this time and driving in a northerly direction along Les Banques, towards the oncoming Audi. When one of the cars drove on to the wrong side of the road to block the Audi’s passage, Lewell mounted the pavement and drove around it before her journey was ended by the last of the arriving cars.

As officers approached the vehicle she could be seen tapping on her mobile phone. She began to swear and was also arrested for behaving in a disorderly manner.

A test at the Police Station identified 32 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of her breath when the legal maximum limit is 35. She gave no comment responses to all questions in interview.

When the Audi’s owner was told what happened she said had been shocked.

Advocate Dunford said damage to the Audi was put at £3,000 and he was seeking compensation of £150 to cover the owner’s insurance excess.

Advocate Paul Lockwood said his client acknowledged that she had put people people at risk and she had insight in to her offending behaviour.

She had taken the car at the advice of so-called friends’ one of whom was 11 years her senior. It could not be said that she had done so under duress but there had been peer pressure. When she had seen the police following her, the reality of returning to prison had hit her and she panicked.

For someone so young she had unenviable record including relevant previous convictions.

The reports showed she had thrown herself at the various activities within the prison. Her engagement there had been excellent and she had worked with the substance abuse counsellor.

She suffered however from depression, anxiety, paranoia and post traumatic stress disorder. She had recently been diagnosed with a serious personality disorder.

Her father had substantial mental health issues and had spent much of his life in prison. His client’s PTSD related to matters involving him.

Losing her step-father and the bullying she had suffered at school had also had a profound impact on her. Her self harming and reliance on alcohol constituted coping strategies.

He urged the court to impose a non-custodial penalty as recommended by the Probation Service.

In March last year, Lewell had been banned from driving for three years for failing to provide a breath sample whilst suspected of being over the drink-drive limit.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said it was not the first that the defendant had taken a car that did not belong to her and she had put others and herself at risk.

She was put at a high risk of re-offending and the offences were far too serious to warrant a non-custodial penalty.

A sentence of seven months youth detention was meted for taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent with a £250 compensation order.

One month consecutive was imposed for behaving in a disorderly manner plus two months consecutive, with a one year driving ban, for driving whilst disqualified. No separate order was made for failing to stop for police. Four months, consecutive, was added for the dangerous driving.

Two months, with a three years driving ban, both current, were meted for driving without insurance.