A dad who appeared on Channel 4 show 24 Hours in Police Custody after he chased burglars in his car has told how his "moment of madness" ruined his life after he ended up in prison. Adam White said his decision to drive after the intruders cost him his £60k-a-year job, his freedom and, most tragically, his unborn child.
Adam, 34, said he will regret what he did for the rest of his life, adding: "It was a moment of madness. Thank God no one died. I have paid a high price.” He spent £50,000 on legal fees before being convicted at Luton Crown Court of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and sentenced to 22 months in January, reports the Mirror.
White, who had no previous convictions, lost control of his car and would-be the house-breakers Taylor Benford and Ryan Paul ended up in hospital after coming off their stolen motorbike. Speaking to The Sunday People about his prison nightmare, White said: “The first week was so hard, I couldn’t stop crying.”
He said he tried to write to wife Lindsay but couldn’t because his “eyes were so full of tears. Explaining, he said: “I got through it by thinking about getting home to my kids. I had two other people in my cell and I felt cockroaches scurrying over my bed covers at night. We were all sharing one toilet, it was degrading. I hated it.
“My worst moment was when a cellmate went crazy and smashed the place up. He ripped off the toilet seat and threw it at the guards. He also threw the TV at them. I was sat in the corner of the cell thinking he was going to attack me. He also started self-harming, slicing his arms with a razor blade.
"I also saw fights inside. I was stood at my cell door and saw two guys swinging at each other down the landing. There was a kettle on the floor. They had put fabric softener in the kettle and boiled it. When the fabric softener boils it goes gloopy and sticks to people like napalm. I was locked up alongside drug dealers and murderers – some of the other inmates called me a ‘civilian’ and said I didn’t belong in jail.”
White was held at HMP Bedford for two weeks then moved to HMP The Mount in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire. In September, three years after the fateful night, he was released on a home detention curfew to return to Lindsay, 34, and his two stepchildren in Leighton Buzzard, Beds.
The case had been so stressful that a month after the incident Lindsay felt compelled to abort their baby, their first together. White said: “It was sickening having to make the decision to abort the baby. I wish we had a little brother or sister to show the other kids.”
He recalled the night in September 2019 when he saw Benford and Paul on his home CCTV trying to break in. He grabbed the keys to his Mercedes 4x4 and chased the pair. He said: “They hit a Mercedes and I hit a truck. It all happened within three minutes.
“My engine was on fire, alarms were going off and the airbag was in my face. I couldn’t open the driver’s side door so I had to kick it open. I ran to a woman’s house and asked her to call the police and my wife.”
Read more: 24 Hours in Police Custody viewers raise £100,000 for dad who protected home
Arrested at the scene, police body camera footage showed White asking an officer: “Am I in trouble? I’m not going to prison for this am I?”
Benford fractured several bones in the crash, while Paul suffered a brain bleed. At Luton Crown Court, the pair, both 25, who have a string of previous convictions between them, were given suspended sentences and 200 hours of community service.
This week White took the decision to appear on the Channel 4 show 24 Hours in Police Custody despite fearing a public backlash. Instead, a stranger was so moved by him and his family’s plight that he launched a GoFundMe page to help them, which has raised more than £160,000.
The incident left White and funeral director Lindsay in dire financial straits. Now Benford and Paul are apparently trying to sue White through his insurance company, allegedly for up to £1 million, over their injuries. White, who has a new a job as an electrician, said: “If someone comes to my house again I’m not going to chase them.”
A police spokesman said: “This episode is an important reminder that people must not take the law into their own hands. The best thing to do when a crime is happening is to call 999.”
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