Elliot Penberthy, 26, ignored his partner’s pleas to stop seconds before the crash, which left her with severe neck injuries
A driver high on cocaine who slammed his car into a tree injuring his heavily pregnant girlfriend as he tried to flee from police has been spared jail.
Elliot Penberthy, 26, ignored his partner’s pleas to stop seconds before the crash, which left her with severe neck injuries.
Penberthy, of Walsall, West Midlands, drove through a bus lane and a red light as he attempted to evade capture, hitting 90mph in a 50mph zone.
He attracted the attention of officers when his blue Honda Civic was spotted driving the wrong way at 2.20am on June 18 last year in Worcester City centre.
However, the chase came to an abrupt end when he crashed into a tree on a roundabout, and tests later showed that he had 55 micrograms of cocaine per litre of blood – more than five times the limit.
Penberthy admitted to dangerous driving, failing to stop when asked to by a police officer, and two counts of drug driving after tests showed he was under the influence of cocaine.
He was banned from driving for two years, and ordered to complete a 12-month community order with a requirement that he undertake 200 hours of unpaid work at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.
He was also ordered to pay £340 costs within 28 days, and will have to take a re-test when is ban is finished.
Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC, sentencing, said: ‘It’s quite clear this was wholly out of character for this young man.
‘He shows proper remorse and the risk of repetition of this sort of behaviour is extremely unlikely.’
The court heard how cops were initially able to speak to the thug after he was spotted driving the wrong way, but he simply told them he did not know the area.
Philip Vollans, prosecuting, said: ‘One of the officers asked him to pull over and asked for a specimen of breath.
‘At this point Mr Penberthy accelerated rapidly down Trinity Street to St Swithin’s Street, along The Cross and onto Foregate Street.
Penberthy was banned from driving for two years but avoided jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving at Worcester Crown Court (pictured)
‘His driving was considered to be dangerous at that point.
‘Mr Penberthy drove into a bus lane and through a red light at Shaw Street, identified as a particularly dangerous spot in the area.
‘The chase concludes when he hits a tree on the roundabout.
‘It’s identified that there was a female passenger in the vehicle described as the defendant’s girlfriend. She was the front passenger.
‘She described to the officer that she was suffering from neck pain.
‘She told the officer she was seven months pregnant. She says she told the defendant to stop but he failed to do so.’
Ben Mills, defending, said: ‘It’s a situation where he has acted in panic when the police have come.
‘Nobody was hurt although that’s a matter of chance.
‘He wasn’t showing off to other people and it wasn’t road rage.
‘He has taken steps to deal with the underlying issues which led to him making this terrible decision.
‘Mr Penberthy took steps himself after this accident to deal with the demons that led him into that situation.’