Danger driver led cops on 110mph A53 chase before hiding on shed roof
“You’re 38, not 18”: Judge tells offender its time to grow up after “appalling” record revealed in court
A danger driver who led police on a 110mph chase was caught when officers in a helicopter spotted he had clambered onto the roof of a shed.
Repeat offender Matthew Beal, aged 38, went to extraordinary lengths to avoid being arrested by racing away from officers in a stolen Ford Fiesta late at night.
Shrewsbury Crown Court was shown dashcam footage from a police car during the chase, which began on the A53 Hodnet bypass at around 11.37pm on July 12 this year.
Dad-of-two Beal, who was banned from driving at the time, turned back on himself multiple times, drove in the wrong lane around blind bends and reached speeds of 110mph in a 60mph zone and 70mph in a 40mph zone.
He turned off the A53 near Shawbury and crashed into a wall while trying to avoid a parked police car with a dog handler inside.
Beal continued speeding away before coming to a stop in a farmyard, where he got out of the car and climbed onto a shed roof.
A police helicopter was hovering above, and Beal was spotted and arrested. He was found to be in possession of a knuckleduster.
He had only been handed a suspended jail sentence for previous offending 12 days before this incident.
Beal, of Ainsley Close, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, driving while disqualified, using a motor vehicle without insurance and breach of a suspended sentence order.
He has 15 previous convictions for 42 offences, including two of dangerous driving and six of driving while disqualified.
The court was told that Beal’s driving was “absolutely horrendous”, and he had been in the process of rekindling his relationship with his children’s mother before he was arrested and remanded in prison for these offences.
Recorder Julian Taylor told Beal: “This was an appalling piece of driving. You have an appalling record.
“You are 38, not 18. You should be growing out of this sort of offending.
“You really shouldn’t be driving. You don’t learn from your mistakes.”
He jailed Beal for 16 months and banned him from driving for four years and eight months.