Police abandoned high-speed chase in County Durham village on safety grounds

An uninsured driver took the “stupid” decision to take his sister’s car for a ride at night, resulting in him becoming involved in a high-speed chase with police.

Jonathan Bentham took the Vauxhall Corsa which was locked and parked outside his sister’s home, at about 11pm, on Saturday June 4 this year.

Durham Crown Court heard that the Corsa came to the attention of officers in a police patrol vehicle in the Thornley area and so the defendant picked up speed to try to get away from them.

Matthew Hopkins, prosecuting, said Bentham initially drove at 50-miles per hour in 30-limited residential streets, and then accelerated to approximately 65mph passing through a traffic calming chicane and over speed humps.

Mr Hopkins said another motorist had to pull over to avoid a collision, while on some parts of the pursuit there were lines of parked vehicles on both sides of the street, and two pedestrians were walking down a road as Bentham raced past them.