Guernsey Press

Police chase of drink-driver reaches speed of 60mph

A POLICE chase at speeds of up to 60mph followed reports of a drink-driver.

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(Picture by Sophie Rabey, 28984644)

Jason Mackie was driving a car he had taken without the owner’s consent and was three-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit, the Magistrate’s Court was told.

Mackie, who moved to the island eight weeks ago to work, was jailed for a total of 18 weeks and banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.

The first reports of a suspected drink-driver were when Mackie was at Fort Road and culminated with his arrest on a clos in St Saviour’s.

The 27-year-old, of The Apartment, Carlton Hotel, La Route des Cornus, St Martin’s, admitted a total of five offences when he appeared in court from custody.

Prosecuting advocate Rory Calderwood told the court that the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre had received reports of a drink-driver at Fort Road at about 5pm on a Saturday.

Another report enabled officers to locate the defendant at Forest Road, where they pulled up behind him at the Chene Hill traffic lights.

They followed as Mackie turned right into Route des Blicqs, where he drove on the pavement.

The blue lights were flashing on the police car and he ignored signals to stop.

He turned left into Rue des Agneaux and the officers followed him along La Villiaze Road.

His road positioning was poor and at times he was on the wrong side of it. He took the short cut by Specsavers into Route des Bas Courtils but failed to stop at the yellow line at the end, where his car veered onto the wrong side of the road.

At the junction with Rue des Grons, he turned around and drove back past the police car the way he had come.

Advocate Calderwood said excessive speed had not been an issue until that point but then the police car had to accelerate to between 50mph and 60mph to keep up.

The stolen car struck another vehicle along the way but failed to stop and he was arrested when he turned into a clos near the Bas Courtils Estate.

A test at the police station identified 122 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath when the legal limit is 35.

In interview, he said he had seen the car parked at the Carlton Hotel. He claimed he had permission to drive it for maintenance reasons and had the keys.

The car’s owner said in a statement that she had not given him permission to drive the car.

He could not remember driving at Fort Road and gave no comment when asked why he failed to stop. He had drunk eight or nine ciders at home before going out.

He had what was described as a modest police national computer record.

Advocate Phoebe Cobb said the offences spoke for themselves and the dashcam footage from the police car was clear in relation to her client’s standard of driving.

He had taken a day off. It was the anniversary of a bereavement, which was why he drank the amount he did.

When police turned on the flashing lights he had panicked. He regretted his actions, which were hugely out of character.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said the dangerous driving offence was aggravated by the excess alcohol one, which pushed it to the higher end of the scale.