A driver wanted by the police raced through residential streets at breakneck speeds before crashing outside a school and running off. Joshua Gillatt sped over speed bumps, drove on the wrong side of the road, overtook cars dangerously, and went though a T-junction without stopping as he tried to get away from the pursuing officer. Police eventually called off the chase because of the risks to the public posed by his driving.
Swansea Crown Court heard the background to the driving was a domestic incident involving Gillatt and his partner which led to the police being called. David Singh, prosecuting, said officers began looking for the defendant's silver Ford Focus and at around 6pm on June 18 this year the vehicle was spotted on the A484 near Burry Port in Carmarthenshire. He said the officer began to follow the Ford and signalled for it to pull over but instead it accelerated away down the road and a pursuit ensued.
The court heard Gillatt drove through the streets of Burry Port at speeds approaching 80mph – racing down narrow residential streets lined with parked cars, overtaking other vehicles dangerously, flying over speed bumps, mounting pavements, and driving on the wrong side of the road. At one point he sped through a T-junction without slowing down. The prosecutor said the drivers of "numerous" other cars had to take evasive action to avoid collisions during the course of the incident.
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The court heard such was the dangerous nature of the defendant's driving the pursuing officer decided to end the chase in Glanmor Terrace and she lost sight of the Focus as it sped away. However the officer found the car a short while later. It had crashed into a concrete traffic island outside Ysgol Parc y Tywyn and the driver had fled on foot. Mr Singh said 32-year-old Gillatt was arrested in Kidwelly two days later and subsequently gave a "no comment" interview. Read about a jealous man who planted an Apple AirTag tracking device on his ex-partner's car so he could monitor her movements.
Joshua Paul Gillatt, of Water Street, Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, admitted dangerous driving. He has 21 previous convictions for 44 offences including thefts, affray, common assault, harassment, and resisting arrest. The court heard Gillatt had initially been charged with assault and using violence to secure entry to premises in relation to the domestic incident which preceded the pursuit. The defendant pleaded not guilty to those offences and subsequently pleaded guilty to a single count of criminal damage as an alternative which was accepted by the prosecution. He has previously been sentenced at Llanelli Magistrates Court to six weeks in prison for that offence.
Matt Murphy, for Gillatt, said when the officer tried to stop his client he had "panicked" at the thought of a custodial sentence for the domestic allegations he was facing and had driven off rather than pulling over. He said the defendant had recently been diagnosed with historical mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and generic anxiety which, while not excusing his behaviour on the day in question, did seem to explain to his client why he had been caught in a cycle of offending over the years. Mr Murphy said Gillatt was hopeful that his diagnoses would provide answers to the issues which he had suffered from for a significant part of his life and he said his client's three children were of the utmost importance to him.
Recorder Benjamin Blakemore told Gillatt he had shown a "callous disregard" for the safety of pedestrians and other motorists on the roads and said it was only a matter of luck that he had not seriously injured or killed anyone. He noted that Gillatt told the author of a probation report that his knowledge of the roads of Burry Port had "played to his strengths" during the chase. The recorder told the defendant that in fact his knowledge of the area "should have made it plan to you how utterly, ridiculously, dangerous driving like that was".
The recorder said he had listened to what Mr Murphy had told the court about Gillatt's mental health diagnoses but was of the view that those issues had not played a part in causing the offences before the court. He added that he had no confidence Gillatt would comply with any court orders and said he was satisfied there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
The recorder said the maximum sentence available to the court for the offence of dangerous driving was one of two years and that if the defendant had been convicted after trial the sentence would have been one of 18 months in prison. A one-third discount for his guilty plea Gillatt was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in custody. The defendant was disqualified from driving for two years and the ban was extended by six months to cover the length of time he will be behind bars. Gillatt must pass an extended test before he can get his licence back.
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