A MAN who led the police on a five-mile high-speed chase through Warwick in a Transit van only stopped when he ran out of petrol, a judge has heard.
Nathan Kapoor then tried to escape on foot, but was caught and arrested, and pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, having no insurance and driving while disqualified.
The 28-year-old, of Hardwick Field Lane, Warwick, was jailed for ten months by the judge at Warwick Crown Court who also banned him from driving for 20 months.
Prosecutor Rebecca Da Silva said at shortly before 11pm on December 3 the police saw Kapoor driving a Transit van in Leamington’s Princes Drive and tried to stop him.
But he sped off along Emscote Road before turning into All Saints Road and then through housing estates with cars parked on both sides of the road until he emerged onto the A425 Birmingham Road in Warwick.
Kapoor went the wrong way round a traffic island as he turned into Theatre Street, and then headed past the racecourse before turning onto the Chase Meadow Estate.
But after a pursuit which Miss Da Silva said had lasted for eight minutes over a distance of five miles, during which the Transit had also mounted pavements, it ran out of petrol.
Kapoor, who had previous convictions for 26 offences including a number of driving offences, climbed out and tried to make off on foot, but was caught and arrested.
Anthony Bell, defending, said Kapoor had been in work as an electrician since his release from his last prison sentence in 2017.
But during ‘down time’ from that work Kapoor started working for a delivery firm, but could not afford the cost of taxis to work, so had taken a chance by driving.
Mr Bell added because of a defective brake light Kapoor had panicked when the police tried to stop him.
Jailing Kapoor, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “You drove when you knew you were disqualified from driving and you knew you didn’t have any insurance, and you drove dangerously.
You showed a complete disregard for the court order banning you from driving, because it was inconvenient. Even in the pre-sentence report you showed little regard for the danger you posed.
“The prospects of you hitting a pedestrian or someone getting out of their car must have been multiple.
“The fact that you didn’t collide with anyone was just your very good fortune, and the good fortune of anyone who might have been there.
