Judge blasts sentencing powers over 130mph A1 driver who rammed police car in West Yorkshire

Nathan Peacock put his Ford Mondeo out of action with the manoeuvre on the A1 near Pontefract after he had undertaken vehicles and drove on a verge to shake off the pursuing car.

The 23-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week via video link from HMP Lindholme after being recalled for a 52-month sentence he received in 2019 for burglary and vehicle theft.

Despite the serious nature of his latest offending, the presiding judge, Recorder Ray Singh, lamented his powers saying that Parliament had “not yet sorted it out” for recalled prisoners to allow new sentences to run consecutively.

He gave Peacock a 22-month jail term, but said it would have to begin from this week so would add little to the existing sentence he is already serving.

Recorder Singh said: “I wish I had significantly more powers to deal with individuals like yourself but I’m constrained by the maximum sentence available.

“One can’t imagine a more serious piece of dangerous driving.

"You are no stranger to these courts, you have a litany of offending.

"Court orders have not worked for you, suspended sentences have not worked, and indeed terms of imprisonment have not worked, but it’s the only respite the public can have.”

Prosecutor Rhianydd Clement told the court that Peacock was spotted on the M62 eastbound south of Leeds at around 11pm on January 7 by the patrolling police car.

He was driving at a 130mph in damp conditions so the officers began following.

After almost losing control on the curved slip road onto the A1(M) southbound, the police activated their blue lights.

He then pulled onto a verge to avoid a HGV and continued swerving in and out of traffic.

Peacock then suddenly stopped in the middle of the motorway with the police pulling in behind him. He reversed at speed into the police, leaving the two officers with minor injuries including back and neck pain.

Unable to drive off, he tried to flee the vehicle but was apprehended. A female passenger remained in the Mondeo.

A folding lock knife was found on him and he was given a drug swipe which tested positive for cannabis.

However, he refused a full drugs test at the station, and refused to provide comments during his interview with officers.

He later admitted charges of dangerous driving, driving while banned and without insurance, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, and two counts of assaulting emergency workers.

The court was told that Peacock, of Palm Avenue in Doncaster, has nine previous convictions for 24 offences.

Mitigating on his behalf, Andrew Pickin said that he was still a young man despite his “unenviable record”, and said the majority of his offending was committed while he was a youth.

Along with the jail sentence, Recorder Singh gave him a driving banning totalling more than five years.