Driver caught on dashcam ‘drifting’ in Tesco car park and ‘wheel spinning’ at Shrewsbury traffic lights

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Corey Church of Racecourse Crescent also gave a false name to police when he was confronted about his antics, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Alexa Carrier prosecuting, said the now 20-year-old defendant, who had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving and one count of perverting the course of justice, was caught out by dash cam footage seized by an organiser of car cruising events.

She told the court that the dash cam footage was seized by police during Operation Chicane, which she told the court focussed on dangerous driving and road racing in the area.

She said that many offenders taking part in these illegal car cruising activities record themselves, and Church’s antics were found on the dash cam footage taken from another car at these illegal events.

She said the footage, recorded on January 16, showed Church driving his silver BMW clockwise around the Tesco Extra car park in Battlefield Road.

“The rear wheels’ traction was broken and the vehicle was drifting,” she told the court. “The rear wheels were constantly out of control and in the background there were other cars seen with their lights on. These cars were also taking part in illegal acts.”

She said other recovered dashcam footage showed Church in his silver BMW at the traffic lights in Abbey Foregate on December 4.

She said when the lights turned green, the rear tyres on Church’s silver BMW could been to have “lost grip and began smoking”.

“The wheels continued spinning and left a cloud of smoke and tyre marks,” she said, adding the street was populated by care homes for the elderly.

She then said that when the police wrote to Church asking him to identify the driver of his car during the incidents, Church gave the name of Peter Anderson of Handsworth, Birmingham, who police discovered did not exist.

However, she said Church, who had no previous criminal record, admitted to being the driver on both incidents after his arrest and to lying on the form sent by police officers.

Defending Church, Mr Kevin Jones, said the defendant had since lost his job as a delivery driver with Amazon and was now setting up his own business. He appealed to the judge to suspend any sentence and added that the BMW had since been sold.

Judge Deni Mathews told the defendant: “The dangerous driving are very serious matters on their own.

“If a tyre blows out or a foot slipped off the pedal then these stunts can be very risky no mater how good a driver you are.”

He added: “But people who commit offences of perverting the court of justice, even when they have never committed an offence before, go to jail.”

However, he commended Church for his frank admission to police and added that his actions were “born out of stupidity rather than malice” and said he noted the defendant’s young age.

He imposed a 20 month jail term but suspended the sentence for two years.

Church was also banned from driving for 15 months, ordered to undertake an extended retest, pay £1,000 in court costs and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.