Drink-driver who led police on 109mph chase and flipped car in West Cumbria is jailed

230720 - Cumbria Police car stockshot - For use after 22/07/20
Tinashi Wilson appeared at Carlisle Crown Court on Thursday 25 May. Credit: Cumbria Police

A drink-driver who led police on a 109mph chase through West Cumbria before flipping his car has been jailed for 10 months.

Tinashi Wilson, 26, Slatefell Drive, was behind the wheel of a silver Peugeot which had false number plates and was stopped by police just before 2am on 30 April.

Wilson stopped but then as police approached he drove off triggering a high speed chase during which he travelled at 60mph through Workington and 109mph on the A66.

Wilson travelled for eight miles on the wrong side of the road, sped through red lights, across solid white lines and the wrong way through roundabouts.

Police then decided to make a tactical stop of Wilson's vehicle which forced him to lose control.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said: "He briefly rolled his vehicle on to its side before it righted itself on to all four wheels again."

Wilson was arrested and appeared in court the next day where he admitted a range of charges.

These included dangerous driving, drink-driving having been almost three times the limit, no insurance, failing to stop for a PC, no insurance and illegally having an offensive weapon in public after a baseball bat was found in his car.

Passing sentence, Recorder Julian Shaw also ordered that Wilson should serve a three-year driving ban when released from custody. He said: “This was an extremely bad incident of dangerous driving.

"You were fortunate indeed that no-one was injured and, to the point, that you didn’t kill yourself, driving as badly impaired as you were. You put police officers at risk; that is unacceptable.”

His lawyer, Jeff Smith, conceded the offending was “appalling” for which there was “no explanation nor justification”.


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