Suspended sentence for motorist who drove through Skegness at twice the speed limit

John Cassidy caused other drivers to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision before police eventually took the decision that the safest way to end the pursuit was to deliberately engineer a collision.

Noel Philo, prosecuting, said that officers had earlier been tipped off that Cassidy had been drinking before getting behind the wheel of his Ford C-Max vehicle and driving from Nottingham back to his flat in Skegness.

Cassidy was spotted in an Aldi car park on Burgh Road, Skegness, and was approached by an officer in a marked police car.

Mr Philo said “The officer drove alongside him and switched off her engine as she anticipated he would be getting out of his vehicle. Instead, he did the opposite. He restarted his car and drove off.

“We had a near miss with another vehicle inside the car park and when he came out onto the main road, he undertook a vehicle, cut in front and turned right. From then on, he drove in a manner that was very dangerous.

“He clearly exceeded the speed limit which was 30 mph throughout and was probably going more than double that.

“He forced other vehicles to move aside to avoid a collision and he drove through a set of red traffic lights to turn right.”

Cassidy drove through a pedestrian precinct area before police decided that the only way to stop him was to engineer a collision.

A police car was driven into his path causing a collision which resulted in Cassidy stopping. One of the officers in the police car suffered a cut to his head and concussion.

Cassidy was breath-tested with the result showing 18 mgs of alcohol per 100 mls of breath putting him well below the legal limit.

Cassidy, 59, of Drummond Road, Skegness, admitted dangerous driving as a result of the incident on 30 December 2019.

He was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to pay £400 compensation to the injured police officer and £425 prosecution costs. He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pass an extended retest before he can legally drive again.

Neil Sands, in mitigation, said that Cassidy had no previous convictions and held a clean driving licence at the time.

He said Cassidy had been under emotional stress following the death of his first wife.

“In the 15 months since this happened, he has reverted back to being a law-abiding citizen. This was truly an isolated incident. He has shown genuine remorse.”

Mr Sands said that Cassidy, a former gas fitter, had himself been the victim of a road accident back in 2013 which resulted in him now being on benefits.”