A judge told the weeping partner of a dangerous driver he sentenced over a police chase in a stolen car, "if he starts again, kick him out". The woman, sobbing in the public gallery as James Clark was sentenced, thanked Judge Stuart Rafferty KC as he spared her partner, a father-of-three, jail.
With gritted teeth, said the judge, he was not going to keep Clark locked up - but if he sees him again within two years of a suspended sentence, he will go to jail. Clark, of Honiton Road, near Strelley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated-vehicle taking, possessing of cocaine and driving without insurance.
Officers tried to stop him in a stolen blue Ford Fiesta, with cloned plates, speeding along Arnold Road, near Nottingham City Hospital. He drove to Padstow Road, on the Bestwood Estate, and did a three-point turn, driving towards a police vehicle.
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Clark mounted the pavement to get round the police vehicle on April 28 this year, then went over speed humps at 60mph, in a 30mph limit. He skidded to a halt, then continued driving through red lights, narrowly missing a HGV and a small black car.
Clark tried to overtake multiple vehicles, but there was not enough room, and he collided with a Vauxhall Corsa in Hucknall Road. He tried to run but officers used incapacitant spray and he was caught. The Fiesta was stolen by someone in Long Eaton on March 23.
A search after Clark's arrest, turned up cocaine, three Ford car keys and more licence plates. Clark, aged 33, has 20 previous convictions for 64 offences, including theft, dishonesty offences, and dangerous driving.
Simon Eckersley, mitigating, said: "He was driving in a vehicle he didn't steal but was stolen."
Clark was on a 12-week suspended prison sentence at the time. The judge extended the period of suspension for the sentence to hang over him to two years, and imposed 12 months for the dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking offences, and one month for possessing cocaine, to run concurrently, but suspended for two years.
His licence will be endorsed for having no insurance and he was banned from the roads for two years.
