Bricklayer imprisoned after dangerous car chase

Thursday 23 May 2019

A Liverpudlian bricklayer has been sentenced to four months behind bars for driving the wrong way down the road, speeding away from Police and running across the beach to avoid arrest after drinking.

Simon Bates (33) appeared in the Magistrate’s Court to be sentenced this week after he was seen driving a white van down Conway Street the wrong way and then refused to stop for Police – setting up a chase, first in vehicles, and then on foot.

Bates was subsequently charged with and convicted of dangerous driving and failure to stop on instruction, as well as failing to provide a specimen for a breathalyser test.

The Court heard that the 33-year-old came over to Jersey to find work. Whilst here, on the night of 4 May, Bates had been drinking at the Tiki Hut before the offences. 

Pictured: Bates had been drinking at the Tiki Hut before he drove his van the wrong way down the road and tried to flee from Police.

He was seen driving the van “around another road user” on Conway Street in the opposite direction to the one-way system and, despite being told to stop by Police, he continued to turn onto the Esplanade whilst driving on the wrong side of the road.

The Court heard that Bates then proceeded to “speed away” onto Victoria Avenue where he was spotted by another Police Officer who pursued him with his siren on. This Police Constable estimated that Bates was travelling “in excess of 60 miles per hour.”

The Police car eventually brought the van to a stop near La Haule in St. Aubin and two men – Bates and a passenger – were in the vehicle. 

But Bates – who, Police noted, smelt “heavily” of alcohol – proceeded to run out of the car and “hide himself at the end of the slip near the restaurant”. He then ran “further along the beach” before he was arrested.

Pictured: The bricklayer's offending started when he defied the one-way system on Conway Street.

The bricklayer later refused to give a breath sample whilst at the Police station.

Advocate Luke Sette, representing Bates, characterised this incidents as “a series of poor decisions combined with his lack of familiarity with the roads” in Jersey. 

He said his client “panicked when he saw the Police” and that in fleeing, he was “trying to avoid detention [and]… to make his problems go away.” 

Advocate Sette told the Court that Bates has a young family based in wales and that his partner is “heavily pregnant” and therefore asked for a community service order to be imposed for this offence. 

Pictured: The Liverpudlian was sentenced in the Magistrate's Court this week.

The Relief Magistrate, Nuno Santos-Costa, commented that Bates had been driving in “a very dangerous manner and at very high speeds”, which he remarked is perhaps more serious “in a small island” than elsewhere. 

“I cannot avoid a custodial sentence,” the Relief Magistrate explained, before handing down his sentence of four months’ jail-time for the offences as well as disqualifying the Liverpudlian from driving for 36 months.