A teenage driver with his pregnant girlfriend sat beside him led police on a high-speed chase along a busy road before crashing into a wall and two cars. Jay Morgan then ran off from officers leaving his partner in the smashed vehicle.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Morgan was chased from the crash scene by the pursuing police officer and was eventually found hiding in the area by a sniffer dog. A judge told the 18-year-old he should be ashamed of himself.
The court heard that the pursuit and crash took place on the northbound A4059 near Mountain Ash in August this year. The court heard a police officer was parked up monitoring traffic on the road looking for a silver VW Polo car in connection with an earlier incident in the area. At around 10pm Morgan drove past the officer in his silver Polo. The officer was unable to see the registration of the VW but suspected it could be the car he was looking for and so began to follow it.
READ MORE: Driver caused 16-year-old cyclist catastrophic injuries when he sped through red traffic light
READ MORE:Busker punched in face 30 times until he handed over his bank card PIN
The officer caught up with the Polo but the VW then accelerated away, overtaking the car in front of it and contravening a solid white line as it do so. The officer illuminated the blue lights on the car and Morgan responded by accelerating away. A high-speed pursuit ensued with the Polo reaching speeds of 111mph and at one point overtaking a line of traffic. The chase came to a sudden end when Morgan lost control on a bend and hit the nearside kerb before veering across the road, clipping the rear of an oncoming Nissan Juke, and then mounting the pavement and slamming into the wall on the offside of the carriageway. The Polo then rebounded off the wall and crashed into an oncoming Toyota Aygo.
The court heard Morgan exited the driver's seat and made off on foot. The officer chased the defendant as far as Upper Forest Level where he lost sight of him and so he returned to the crashed Polo. When the officer looked inside the vehicle he saw a female in the passenger seat holding a dog. It later emerged the passenger was Morgan's pregnant partner. The defendant was later found by a police dog hiding nearby and was arrested. He had bruises on his arms characteristic of airbag impact. The teenager subsequently answered "no comment" to all questions asked in interview. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here.
The court heard the Juke that Morgan clipped sustained scratches and dents and a damaged rear bumper but the Aygo sustained "heavy front-end damage" and had to be written off. Neither of the drivers in the cars were injured.
Jay Morgan, of River Row, Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to report an accident, and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has one previous conviction for three offences of failing to stop after an accident, driving without insurance, and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence from February this year. Magistrates gave him a 12-month conditional discharge for those matters, which he was in breach of by the commission of the new offences.
Martha Smith-Higgins, for Morgan, said the defendant had been just one month past his 18th birthday at the time of the Mountain Ash incident and a pre-sentence report had highlighted his immaturity, impulsive behaviour, and "a number of cognitive deficits in his thinking". She said there was very little mitigation she could put forward about the driving and said on the night in question Morgan had not only put his own life at risk but also the lives of his pregnant partner and other road users. The barrister said the defendant now had a four-week-old daughter and the child is the motivation for him to change his life.
Judge Lucy Crowther said Morgan had been involved in a high-speed chase on a busy road at night which resulted in a crash and had then run away leaving his pregnant partner and unborn child in the vehicle. She told the defendant: "You should be ashamed of yourself." She said she had read reports on Morgan and it was clear he was very immature, had never worked, cannot control his temper, and has very little thought for others or understanding of the impact his behaviour has. The judge said now Morgan had parental responsibilities she hoped those things would change and she said it was primarily because of the young child that she was going to suspend the custodial sentence that was due.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Morgan was sentenced to 12 months detention in a young offenders' institution suspended for two years and he was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and do 120 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was also banned from driving for 18 months and must pass an extended test before he can get his licence back. Morgan was also ordered to pay the driver of the Nissan Juke £350 compensation which was the cost of the excess on her insurance. Judge Crowther said she would take no action over Morgan's breach of the conditional discharge.
Check the latest crime statistics for your area:
