A CAREER criminal who pulled a knife on police officers attempting to arrest him after a series of wild pursuits through the Hunter Valley has been jailed for a maximum of three years.
Police had been searching for Dion Lee Welsh, now 42, for a few days when they spotted a stolen and speeding Toyota HiLux at Pokolbin on March 14 this year and attempted to pull it over.
But the car took off, triggering a series of wild pursuits from Broke Road to Paynes Crossing, Wollombi and Sweetmans Creek, at speeds reaching 138km/h.
Police successfully used road spikes to stop the HiLux, shredding the tyres, but the four occupants - including Welsh - stole another car and took off again.
Police then used the road spikes a second time, and established a "rolling roadblock", surrounding the stolen car with a convey of police vehicles.
The HiLux rammed into the police cars before pulling into a property at Sweetmans Creek, where Welsh pulled out a knife and threatened police officers who were arresting co-offender Nicole Young.
"F--- off dog, I'll stab you," Welsh told police, brandishing the blade.
He then fled from police on foot and showed officers giving chase the knife before he was caught. He had to be capsicum sprayed and struck with a baton before he could be arrested.
Police had been looking for Welsh and Young since they led police on a pursuit in a stolen car at Maitland on March 11.
On that occasion, when police cornered them and pulled out their firearms, Young grabbed a baseball bat and Welsh held a syringe and they simply ignored the shouts of police to "get on the ground".
They managed to flee into a house, where police were confronted with two large aggressive dogs, out through the backyard and disappeared.
A few days later, they carjacked a woman at Toronto, forcing her to drive them away from a Coles supermarket and making threats about shooting or stabbing her.
Welsh pleaded guilty to 14 offences, including three counts of using an offensive weapon to prevent lawful detention and aggravated carjacking in company. On Wednesday he was jailed for a maximum of three years, with a non-parole period of one year and eight months.
He will be eligible for parole in November, 2024.
Meanwhile, Young was jailed last month for a maximum of three years and six months, with a non-parole period of two years, after she pleaded guilty to a number of charges relating to her role in the pursuit, carjackings and resisting arrest.
She has since lodged an appeal against the severity of the jail term, which is listed for hearing in Newcastle District Court next month.
Welsh spoke to ABC'S 7.30 in February about being abused by a woman in a youth detention centre as a 15-year-old and has since spent much of the last two decades behind bars.
"It's important for me to stay out because I've spent 20 years of my life in there and I do not remember celebrating any birthdays out," he told 7.30 in a report aired in February, about a month before his arrest.
Welsh was in 2019 jailed for a maximum of three-and-a-half years for his role in a 2017 home invasion shooting at Hamilton that left a drug dealer with "half his face hanging off".
He would have got more time, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge when prosecutors were unable to prove he knew the gunman, Joshua Rae, was armed with a sawn-off shotgun and planned to use it.
He was eligible for parole in February, 2020, but was arrested a few months later for a violent break-in at a Raymond Terrace pub.
He was later jailed for a maximum of two years, with a non-parole period of one year and again hadn't been out of jail long when he came to the attention of police in March.
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