Drunk driver involved in two police chases jailed - judge blasts ‘absolutely outrageous’ behaviour

Gerrard Connors was told he would be facing even longer in prison if the sentencing powers were available.

The 30-year-old, of Glenkeen in Dunmurry, pleaded guilty to a catalogue of driving offences and a separate burglary.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he was behind the wheel of an Audi A4 spotted undertaking other cars on the Andersonstown Road on January 28 this year.

The vehicle sped off as police followed, heading through a car park at a set of shops and the forecourt of a filling station on Finaghy Road North.

At one point officers were concerned that the Audi was going to be driven into them, but instead it mounted at footpath before eventually coming to a halt.

Connors was “rambling” and failed a breath test when arrested at the scene.

In a separate incident on August 31 last year he defied traffic signs by driving a Ford Mondeo onto the Donegall Road and Sandy Row in south Belfast.

Once again he failed to stop for police, travelling on at speed amid oncoming traffic on the Lisburn Road.

Connors was eventually located at a nearby Eurospar, where he was detected to be over the limit.

He admitted charges including dangerous driving and with excess alcohol, driving while disqualified, having no insurance and breaching a traffic sign.

A guilty plea was also entered to a burglary at a house on Apsley Street in Belfast on January 21 last year.

Intruders broke into the property through a bathroom window, splashed bleach inside and stole £600 in cash.

Connors was linked to the raid by a blood sample recovered at the scene.

Defence counsel Jonathan Browne said his client accepted a prison term was inevitable.

“He’s determined to clear the decks, serve his sentence, come out and start a new chapter in his life,” the barrister added.

“He no longer has any association with a negative peer group that he fell in with.”

Deputy District Judge Liam McStay ordered Connors to serve a total of 12 months in custody, banned him from driving for five years, and fined him £200.

Mr McStay told him: “The driving matters are absolutely outrageous.

“I find myself restricted in the sentence that I would wish to impose.”