Bentilee drink-driver 'aggressively' reversed at police officers

DRINK-driver Mark Walters 'aggressively' reversed his car at police officers as they attempted to arrest him.

The 29-year-old drove dangerously around Bentilee while he was two-and-a-half times over the limit, and fled when challenged by officers.

They had to jump out of his way when he drove towards them.

The 29-year-old received a suspended prison sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and using a vehicle without insurance. He was also banned from the roads for three years.

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Prosecutor Fiona Cortese told the court that plain clothes officers in an unmarked car had been searching for Walters' Volkswagen Golf, in Bentilee, on March 26.

She said: "At a junction on Wellfield Road they saw the car being driven at high speed. He turned left onto Dawlish Drive, and went so wide he mounted the pavement with all four wheels. The officers turned their car around and followed the defendant, but lost sight of him."

Twenty-five minutes later the officers found Walters again, driving towards them along Whiteridge Grove. As cars were parked along the road, Walters could not get past until the officers, who deliberately blocked him, reversed out of the way.

Ms Cortese added: "As he passed he shouted abuse. They responded by saying they were police officers, and asked him to pull over.

"The officers got out of the car to show him their ID, but the defendant reversed at speed towards the officers. This caused them to step to one side, as he stopped exactly where they had been standing."

Walters, of Middlefield Road, Bentilee, was later arrested at a nearby property by uniformed officers, and was found to have a breath alcohol content of 86mg per 100ml, compared with the legal limit of 35mg.

The court heard that Walters had previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol and being in charge of a vehicle with excess alcohol, dating back to 2008.

Jason Holt for Walters' said the car had not been insured as it had been registered as off the road while repaired. The work had been completed on March 26, and Walters had celebrated by taking it for a test drive.

Mr Holt said: "This is not the worse case of dangerous driving. There was nothing to suggest that the officers were police officers, and they themselves blocked the road in what appeared to him to be an aggressive manner. But he accepts that he did not react very well."

Mr Holt said Walters had matured considerably in the six months since the incident and had been offered a job at a garage.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones handed Walters an eight month sentence, suspended for 18 months, along with a 12-month supervision order.

Walters was told he would need to pass an extended driving test before he would be able to drive again.