A man who once infamously taunted police while on the run is back behind bars after leading cops on a motorbike chase and then harassing his ex-partner and threatening to burn her house down.
After ditching his bike and hiding in bushes, career criminal Matthew Maynard was tracked down thanks to a police drone. Once released on bail having admitted dangerous driving he then began harassing his former girlfriend and issuing a series of lurid threats against her and her family. The offending took place shortly after he had been released from prison following an earlier episode of dangerous driving where he again led police on a high-speed pursuit - on that occasion at the wheel of a stolen BT van.
Maynard hit the headlines in 2009 when he was being sought by police in Swansea in connection with a burglary - he objected to the mugshot which was issued during the manhunt, so sent a new one to the South Wales Evening Post showing him posing next to a cop van. But his vanity was to be his undoing, and after the picture appeared on the front page of the paper he was arrested when a member of the public saw him in a barber's shop.
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Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on November 4 last year police in the Penlan area of Swansea signalled for a motorbike with defective lights to pull over - instead it sped away, and a chase ensued. Maynard raced along Pentregethin Road to the Cwmbwrla roundabout and then through the streets of Manselton where he went the wrong way along a one-way street. The court heard he then rode through a red traffic light at Brynhyfryd Square before finally abandoning his bike in Ladysmith Road in Treboeth and running off into the bushes and trees at the edge of Parc Llewelyn. A police drone with a thermal imaging camera was deployed to the scene, and the defendant was spotted hiding in the undergrowth. A police dog and handler were then sent in to arrest him.
The defendant was subsequently charged with dangerous driving and pleaded guilty, and following a Crown court appearance was released on bail so a pre-sentence report could be prepared. However, in January this year 37-year-old Maynard began a campaign of harassment against an ex-partner - a woman who he is prohibited from contacting by a restraining order - which saw him turning up at her house, approaching her while she was in her car, and bombarding her with calls, texts, and Facebook messages. During the contact he made a series of lurid threats against her and members of her family, including threatening to burn her house down.
Matthew William John Maynard, of Idwal Place, Penlan, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, harassment, and breach of a restraining order when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 31 previous convictions for 86 offences including aggravated vehicle taking, handling stolen goods, harassment, theft, dangerous driving, and 11 of driving while disqualified or driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
In May last year he was sentenced to six months in prison for dangerous driving, an offence which saw him leading police on a high-speed chase through Swansea in a stolen BT Openreach Transit van. A stinger tyre puncturing device was deployed by police during the chase, and Maynard then jumped into a waiting Vauxhall Corsa getaway car which raced off and was itself targeted by a second stinger device but continued to speed through Ravenhill and Penlan. Maynard alighted from the Penlan car and ran through a number of gardens before going into a house. Unknown to Maynard however, his every move was being monitored from a police helicopter and when officers gained entry to the address they found the fugitive hiding in the attic under a layer of insulation.
Andrew Evans, for Maynard, said while it was accepted that the pre-sentence report had concluded there was no alternative to a sentence of immediate custody, the defendant invited the court to consider a sentence which would allow him to address his substance misuse issues in the community.
Judge Christopher Vosper KC said it was clear from everything he had read about the defendant that his engagement with agencies had been poor, and that the Probation Service had concluded there was very little purpose in trying to work him. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Maynard was sentenced to a total of eight months in prison for the dangerous driving incident and to 10 months for the harassment matters, the sentences to run consecutively with each other making an overall sentence of 18 months in prison. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Maynard was also banned from driving for two years and nine months and must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.
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