Every week, judges at Bristol Crown Court sentence people for motoring offences, especially dangerous driving. And defendants who risk the lives of others, as well as their own, are often sent to prison.
Bristol Live reports on cases and some of the key benefits of open justice include ensuring public confidence and respect in democracy and the administration of justice. It also serves to deter people from committing crimes and thereby the details of those crimes becoming public knowledge.
Here are the bad drivers who have been jailed from November 2022 to April 2023. You can read more about why we publish defendants' names and addresses here.
READ MORE: Bristol man jailed for causing £55K damage to Prince of Wales Bridge
Laurence Salaou, 18 months
A driver who crashed into a double-decker bus causing it to smash into a house was jailed.
Last year on December 15, Laurence Salaou, 23, was driving a Volkswagen Golf on Highridge Road in Bishopsworth when he crashed into the bus, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
The crash caused considerable damage to the property, which saw a lot of the brickwork of its facade torn clean off. After he admitted dangerous driving at Bristol Crown Court Salaou was subsequently jailed for 18 months.
Previously he had admitted a charge of driving while disqualified. Read the full story here.
Francesco Ippolito, nine years and four months
A road-rage motorist was jailed for nearly 10 years for crushing a man with a van, after previously killing another by careless driving. Francesco Ippolito, 37, used his Volkswagen Transporter to ram his victim against another vehicle causing life changing injuries.
Ippolito was angered when his vehicle’s wing mirror made contact with another van. He got out to confront the other driver and two other men before driving at one them. He fled to Bristol before being arrested.
His victim, aged in his 30s, suffered fractures to both legs and a broken pelvis and says it has ruined his life. Ippolito, of Bleadon, Somerset, initially denied a charge of GBH but changed his plea to guilty two weeks before a trial.
He has now been sentenced jailed for nine years and four months at Bristol Crown Court. The incident happened on June 1 last year just outside Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. Read the full story here.
Colt Valentine, 12 months
A "drugged up" window cleaner led police on a 14-minute dangerous drive over six miles through Bristol. And a judge decided his poor driving record and moderate prospect of rehabilitation merited jail.
Colt Valentine came to police's attention after they spotted he was driving at night without lights, Bristol Crown Court heard. When they tried to pull him over he sped off, breaking speed limits, jumping red lights and going the wrong way around a roundabout.
Valentine, 30, of Fairview Road, Kingswood, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving without a proper licence and insurance and two charges of drug driving. Judge Julian Lambert jailed him for 12 months. Read the full story here.
Ellis Smith, two years and four months
A man was jailed after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The case came after a six-year-old boy suffered significant injuries in a collision with a motorcycle on Wade Street, Bristol, at about 6pm on Saturday 28 January.
Smith failed to stop at the scene but was arrested later that night.
Ellis Smith, 21, of St George, Bristol, was this week sentenced to a total of two years and four months in prison at Bristol Crown Court.
At an earlier hearing he had admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, perverting the course of justice, failing to stop after a collision and having no insurance.
Smith was also disqualified from driving for three years and two months. Read the full story here.
Daniel Field, 18 months
A man who took his friend's car and led police on a chase through Bristol before crashing it was jailed. Daniel Field came to police's attention as he drove the Suzuki Swift into the city on the M32 at 6am on a Sunday, Bristol Crown Court heard.
After pulling alongside them he beeped his horn, left the motorway at Junction 3, went through a red traffic light and was lost to sight. After doing laps around the Braggs Lane area - where he drove towards three men - the father-of-two crashed the car into a wall. He and two passengers then ran off and he was arrested.
Field, 27, of Bower Hill in Melksham, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking and attempting to cause serious injury by dangerous driving in August 2021. Judge William Hart jailed him for 18 months. Read the full story here.
Mackie Newton, two years and four months
An unqualified driver who clipped a police car while trying to evade officers was jailed. Police spotted an Audi linked to drug offences being driven by teenager Mackie Newton in Stockwood, Bristol Crown Court heard.
When they tried to pull the car over it sped off. But after a pursuit of some seven minutes - in which the Audi clipped a police car wing mirror, police found the car dumped and Newton laying on grass nearby.
The 19-year-old, whose address was given as Chesterfield Close in Orpington, Kent, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in December 2021. He also admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, and possessing cannabis, in January this year. Read the full story here.
Christoph Cole, 12 months
An uninsured driver driving a car taken without permission rammed police when they pursued him. And as a result he was jailed for a year.
Police spotted Christoph Cole in the vehicle in Dundry, Bristol Crown Court heard. After a short chase, in which two police cars and a parked car were damaged, he stopped and fled, but was arrested after being identified from CCTV.
Cole, 35, of Queen's Road in Bishopsworth, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving without insurance and aggravated vehicle taking after the incident on October 27 last year. Judge Edward Burgess KC jailed him for a year. Read the full story here.
Thomas Harris, 12 months
A "bit of a bender" was the precursor to a man committing a spate of offences in Weston-super-Mare. And it cost him 12 months in prison.
Thomas Harris took his partner's leased Mercedes car illegally, crashed it and bit a police officer. As well as that he was found with crack cocaine, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Harris, 35, of Court Close in St George's, Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, driving without a proper licence or insurance, failing to stop after an accident or report it, possessing Class A and C drugs, assaulting an emergency worker, possessing a weapon capable of discharging a noxious substance and dangerous driving.
Judge Martin Picton jailed him for 12 months. Read the full story here.
Ryan Sowden, 32 months
A man due to attend a domestic violence course in Bristol assaulted his girlfriend as she drove him there, a court heard. And, after assaulting her as she drove him on a separate occasion, Ryan Sowden drove her erratically and injured her in a head-on collision.
Sowden, 22, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actuial bodily harm, battery and two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He appeared for sentence at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Euan Ambrose jailed him for 32 months. Read the full story here.
Thomas Croker, 14 months
After leading police on a 140mph chase down the M5, dumping his car and fleeing, Thomas Croker came up with a cunning plan. Later that day he reported his BMW 320D stolen and he was invited to the police station.
Unfortunately for him, waiting at the station was the cop who had seen it was Croker, not a car thief, who was driving his car at the time of the chase. And Croker was even more unlucky when he was shown a police dashcam photo of him fleeing the vehicle.
Dad-of-three Croker, 30, of Fishponds Road, Eastville, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and doing an act tended to pervert the course of justice in November 2021. Judge Michael Longman jailed him for 14 months. Read the full story here.
Kyle Marshall, three years and nine months; Finley Phillips, one year and nine months
Two men were handed prison sentences after a high-speed car chase and hours-long man hunt.
Kyle Marshall, 19 of HMP Bristol, and Finley Phillips, 18 of Sherrin Way, Bishopsworth, appeared at Bristol Crown Court after pleading guilty to a number of counts.
Marshall pleaded guilty to non-dwelling burglary, dwelling burglary, theft from and of a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking without consent (dangerous driving and original taker) and driving offences.
Phillips pleaded guilty to non-dwelling burglary and aggravated vehicle taking without consent (passenger).
Marshall was sentenced to three years and nine months, and Phillips was handed one year and nine months in prison. Read the full story here.
Bradley Iles, 13 months
A boozed up white van man who subjected a taxi driver to a terrifying ordeal in which he brake-checked him, punched his vehicle and rammed him was jailed. Bradley Iles had downed half a bottle of vodka when for no clear reason he targeted the taxi for some 30 minutes, Bristol Crown Court heard.
The incident only ended after the taxi driver reached Bristol Airport. He was so anxious that as he was chased by Iles the cabbie smashed through the entrance barrier of the long stay car park before smashing through the exit barrier to get out.
Mercifully Iles then made his escape. Police called in arrested him later in Bristol city centre.
Iles, 25, of Pretoria Road in Patchway, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and threatening behaviour in September. Judge Mark Horton jailed him for 13 months. Read the full story here.
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