A man who was jailed for an 'absolutely mad piece of driving' stopped to kiss his girlfriend through the court glass before being led away in handcuffs.
Ryan Cook, 33, led police on a high speed chase after he was spotted speeding by officers on duty in Ashton-under-Lyne, and failed to stop after they activated their emergency equipment.
As a judge at Minshull Street Crown Court jailed him for nine months, the defendant asked him: "Can I give my girlfriend a kiss at least?” before his partner walked up to the glass of the dock and the pair kissed.
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The court heard Cook had been driving back from the hospital, after his pregnant partner had been induced, when he came to the attention of police, and failed to stop.
He weaved through traffic in the VW Golf, drove through multiple red lights, and at one stage reached 60mph in a 30mph zone.
The pursuit only came to an end when the Golf ploughed into a silver Mercedes taxi. The driver, who was not working at the time, was dropping his son off at his friends, when they heard a loud bang. Fortunately, neither the driver nor his son were seriously injured.
Cook attempted to flee following the crash but was arrested. Officers attempted to carry out a breathalyser test on him as they believed he was under the influence of alcohol, but he failed to provide a reading.
He was jailed for nine months for the ‘absolutely mad piece of driving.' The sentencing judge deemed that it was "inevitable" that there would be a collision.
Prosecuting, Duncan Wilcock said that on August 8 last year at around 9.20pm, two police officers were on duty when they saw the Golf driving at high speed on Turner Lane before turning onto Albion Way.
Cook failed to stop when signalled to by the officers and continued down Oldham Road before he weaved in and out of other vehicles.
“He went through a red traffic light, then through a second,” Mr Wilcock said. “He attempted to go through a third traffic light at the junction with King Street and Wharf Street but collided with a silver Mercedes taxi. The defendant got out of the vehicle and ran, but was stopped on King Street.”
The driver of the Mercedes said he was dropping his son off to meet some friends when his car was struck. His son said that following the crash he immediately got out of the car and went to check on his dad.
His father had to be removed from the car by a spinal board, the court heard. In a statement, he said he was left in severe pain and was financially worse off. He said the Mercedes was written off.
Cook was said to have 22 previous convictions for 45 offences including for driving matters, robbery and handling stolen goods. He was also jailed at Leeds Crown Court for communicating a false bomb hoax after he contacted the police to say he ‘had a bomb and he was going to explode it’.
John Richards, defending, said his client suffers from bipolar disorder, ADHD and schizophrenia. He said at the time his partner was pregnant and induced before being put into intensive care.
“He was coming back from the hospital at the time. He knew what he was doing, he could have stopped instead of pulling off from the police,” Mr Richards said.
“He is somebody who has been to prison many times before. The consequences are not going to be that difficult for him to handle.”
Sentencing, the judge, Recorder Richard Pratt KC, said: “It’s almost inevitable that driving like that would result in a crash. The victim and his son were entirely innocent and were going about their own business and law-abiding lives.
“This was an absolutely mad piece of driving.”
Cook, of Hope Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, was jailed for nine months and banned from driving for offences of dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen of breath and driving with no insurance.
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