Mercy no-one was injured, says judge, as ​probation order is given to 100mph drug-driver

​Sentencing Charlotte Spence at Newry Crown Court, Judge Paul Ramsey KC said it was “just a mercy that no one was badly injured” as a result of the 35-year-old’s “prolonged piece of bad driving”.

He highlighted, however, that the offences were committed almost five years ago and that since then, Spence has not reoffended but has taken steps to address her issues and drug addiction.

At an earlier hearing Spence, of Railway Street in Strabane, entered guilty pleas to charges of dangerous driving, driving while banned, possessing class A heroin and using a car without insurance, all committed on April 18 2020.

During his sentencing remarks yesterday, Judge Ramsey outlined how a member of the public alerted police to a southern-registered Nissan Almera parked on the Ballyards Road in Keady where the front seat occupants “appeared to be passed out”.

As police approached Spence spotted them and reversed at speed to evade them, showing “complete disregard for multiple pedestrians who were in the area at the time.”

“Police caught up with the vehicle and when the two officers exited the police vehicle to speak with the occupants of the Nissan Almera, the vehicle made off at speed again, forcing one of the officers back into a hedge,” said the judge.

During the ensuing pursuit as the car headed towards Armagh, the Almera at one point was seen “driving into the town centre and into a one-way street, mounting kerbs and pedestrian walkways”.

Then as the pursuit moved to the Newry Road and A1, “officers observed the front nearside tyre of the vehicle come off, but it continued to be driven by the defendant at speeds of between 60 to over 100 mph, travelling on the rim of one wheel”.

Judge Ramsey described how Spence “carried out several dangerous manoeuvres including undertaking two HGV lorries at speed on the hard shoulder, travelling round a right hand bend on the opposing lane of traffic forcing an oncoming motorist to take evasive action to avoid a collision, performed an overtake manoeuvre narrowly missing a collision with another HGV lorry, driving the wrong way round a roundabout on the approach to Newry, and all the while exceeding the national speed limit”.

At one point the Nissan crossed into the Republic of Ireland but then re-emerged five minutes later and the pursuit begun again with police using blue flashing lights and sirens signalling for it to stop.

As Spence turned onto the Lower Newtown Road the Almera “was observed by police swerving onto the opposing lane of traffic and on the approach to a bridge, travelled onto the wrong side of the road before turning into the driveway of a house under construction and coming to a halt against a pile of rubble”.

Spence, the court heard, “flung open the driver’s door” with such force that it damaged the police vehicle and although she tried to run off, the 35-year-old was detained a short distance away and a small amount of heroin was found inside the car.

“The defendant appeared unsteady on her feet, her speech was slurred and her eyes were glazed,” said the judge, adding that when a blood sample was analysed it showed Spence had heroin, cocaine and cannabis in her system.

In his submissions defence counsel Patrick Taylor conceded that “clearly this was a prolonged piece of bad driving” but that since the offences “there has been a change in lifestyle … she is a very different person now to the person who committed those offences”.

He argued that Spence “would benefit from a community disposal” and in imposing the two-year probation order, Judge Ramsey stressed that “an important factor” for him was that Spence has not reoffended in the intervening five years and that she had “made efforts” to address her issues in that time.

In addition to the probation order, he also banned Spence from driving for a year.