Police pursued young motorist with blue lights and sirens

Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Newell from Ballymaguire Road, was also fined a total of £300 with a £15 offender levy and banned from driving for two years for driving dangerously; failing to stop for police; having no insurance; no driving licence, and obstructing a police officer.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan told Newell, who appeared in court remotely, that his driving had put police officers at serious risk, himself and his passenger at serious risk, and other road users at serious risk.

The judge remarked that Newell had four previous convictions for no insurance for a young motorist, and he had no doubt that the custody threshold had been breached.

Prosecution counsel told the court that on July 26, 2018, at approximately 5pm on the Mountjoy Road, Coalisland, police came upon two males, one of them Newell, sitting in a car. He said as police approached the vehicle it sped-off in the opposite direction and police followed for some two miles before it came to a stop.

Counsel pointed out the police had deployed blue lights and sirens and had observed Newell crossing the central white line on a number of occasions, cutting a blind corner before careering across the road onto a grass verge.

The lawyer said Newell gave police his eldest brother’s name and this false detail was not clarified until sometime later when the brother came to the police station.

Defence lawyer Noel Dillon stressed that there had been no further offending by the defendant since 2019.

He said a Probation Officer described Newell in the pre-sentence report as an immature young man who needed to mature.

Mr Dillon said the defendant has always been employed and was employed by a company in Cookstown until the Covid outbreak, and was now employed by a company in Stewartstown to which he could walk.

He said the defendant was also in a relationship and he would say that he is “now on the path to maturity.” Mr Dillon said Newell would apologise to the police officers and his brother.

“He had been very foolish in what he did especially to his brother and is afraid of his liberty today,” he added

Passing sentence, District Judge Ranaghan told Newell that he was banned until tested.

He warned him that he was very close to custody on this occasion and he needed to be very careful going forward. He allowed him 12 weeks to pay the penalties.