BMW driver from Lechlade led police on 35 mile chase

Morgan Scott who has never passed his driving test, took off from officers on Thamesdown Drive after they tried to pull him over as he had a bald back tyre.

During the hour-long pursuit the 21-year-old drove at up to twice the speed limit, jumped red lights, mounted a verge to avoid a stinger and forced one officer to jump out the way of his car. Scott kept his head bowed as footage of the chase was played to the court.

Jailing Scott for nine months at Swindon Crown Court, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “I have no doubt that this is a higher culpability case. You disregarded police instructions to stop over a considerable period.

“You were affected by drugs you had consumed. The driving was aggressive at times and showed a total disregard for road traffic regulations.”

Police had tried to pull Scott’s 51-plate BMW 330 over as it turned off Thamesdown Drive near Redhouse at around 25 minutes past midnight on March 7, 2020.

Morgan Scott outside Swindon Crown Court

Officers had noticed that a back tyre was bald and had suspicions that the driver did not hold a licence.

Dash-cam footage played to the court showed Scott taking off from police, going the wrong way around a roundabout then heading back on to Thamesdown Drive. The officers were forced to hit speeds of almost 80mph – twice the speed limit – in an effort to catch up with the car as it approached Abbey Meads.

Scott spotted another police officer about to deploy a stinger on Blunsdon Road near the turning onto the A419. He mounted the kerb to avoid the tyre-wrecking device and drove on the pavement for several metres before returning to the road.

The BMW driver’s circuitous route took him towards Highworth, through Hannington and Kempsford and past RAF Fairford. He headed south at Lechlade, taking the backroads to Coleshill and from there joined the A420. Scott continued his drive south through Shrivenham and down to Hinton Parva where he took a cross country route to Foxhill.

He had stopped briefly at a farm to drop off a female passenger. Tracked down by police later, she was discovered to have a bag containing drugs.

Helicopter footage shows the moment Scott was stopped by police Picture: CPS WESSEX

Footage showed Scott avoiding two stinger devices. He was said to have narrowly missed hitting a Thames Valley Police officer, who was trying to deploy a type of stinger known as a Stop Stick.

In a statement read to the court, the officer PC Neil Elliot said: “Believing I was about to be run over I ran towards the opposite side of the road.” In diving for cover he grazed his knee and suffered a bruised elbow.

The chase came to an end shortly after 1.30am when Scott crashed into a bollard. He ditched the car, left his passenger behind, and fled across fields but was caught when he tripped and fell.

Prosecutor Lucy Taylor said Scott tested positive for cocaine and cannabis. Blood samples showed he had 3.8mcgs of cannabis, almost twice the legal limit. He was one and a half times over the legal limit for cocaine and four times over the limit for cocaine bi-product benzoylecgonine.

Scott flees from pursuing officers Picture: CPS WESSEX

Interviewed the following day, he admitted he had taken cocaine and smoked cannabis on the morning of the pursuit. He remembered nothing of the evening.

He was a disqualified driver, having been banned in November 2019 for six months for driving without insurance. He had never had a driving lesson or passed a test, Ms Taylor said.

The approximate route taken by Morgan Scott

Scott, of Gassons Way, Lechlade, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and drug driving.

Defending, Rhianna Fricker said her client’s relationship with his parents had deteriorated when he was in his teens and he had sofa surfed with friends before being taken in by another family. However, he had developed an addiction to cocaine and cannabis – spending up to £100 a day on the former.

Since the chase, he had given up cocaine and drastically reduced his cannabis intake. He had reconciled with his parents and was earning £50 a day as a roofer. His partner was pregnant.

Scott had not wanted to watch the footage of the chase as he was “too ashamed and embarrassed by it”, Ms Fricker said.

Judge Crabtree noted Scott’s remorse and change of circumstances, but said the offences were too serious to justify anything other than an immediate prison sentence.

He was banned from driving for two years, with an extension period of four months. Scott must pass an extended retest if he wants to drive again.