Leeds car criminal almost knocked down officer as he rammed police car on M62 slip road

A prolific car criminal caused more than £7,000 of damage by deliberately reversing into a police car in a stolen van on a motorway slip road.
Stuart Wood.Stuart Wood.
Stuart Wood.

A police officer came close to being trapped between the two vehicles during the incident.

Leeds Crown Court heard a Mercedes Sprinter van being driven by Stuart Wood on the M62 had been stolen in Leeds on October 12 this year.

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Armed police officers became suspicious after seeing the vehicle travelling in the east-bound carriageway the next day.

Checks revealed the number plates on the van belonged to a combined harvester.

Wood left the motorway at the junction next to the Xscape complex at Castleford.

He stopped the vehicle when the police car followed him and signaled for him to stop.

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Wood then reversed the vehicle into the police car as an officer got out to speak to him.

Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said the officer opened the door of the van as Wood tried to drive away.

He punched the defendant three times to stop him driving off.

A taser device was used on Wood as he was arrested.

A car key was recovered from the vehicle that could be “cloned” to start any Mercedes vehicle.

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Wood, 30, of Beechcroft View, Cottingley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, handling stolen goods and having no insurance.

The court heard Wood has 12 previous convictions for driving while disqualified, two for dangerous driving and four for handling stolen goods.

Richard Reed, mitigating, said Wood began taking cocaine to cope with the loss of grandmother.

He agreed to drive the stolen vehicle to an address in Selby to settle a drug debt with his dealer.

Wood was jailed for two years.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “This was a deliberate act on your part to ram in to the police car, resulting in a considerable amount of damage.”