Drugged up driver who led police on 100mph chase is jailed after seriously injuring NHS worker at the height of COVID lockdown

Jacob Walsh, 23, wrote off the healthcare worker’s car with her inside it just seconds after he reached 110mph in a 30mph zone.

The effects of the crash have left her unable to return to work since the incident, police said.

Dashcam footage shows Walsh driving an uninsured black BMW 118 on the wrong side of the road at four roundabouts as police pursued him.

He narrowly avoids cars as he dangerously swerves into oncoming traffic during the 20 minute pursuit which also saw him drive on the wrong side of a dual carriageway.

Walsh, who was high on cocaine and cannabis at the time, then turns around on the carriageway and continues to evade the police.

Just seconds later he hits a car belonging to a healthcare worker who was driving home after a nine hour shift on a Covid ward.

He shunts her motor 15 metres, totally writing it off. She has not been able to work since due to the effects of the collision, police said.

Walsh, of Halifax, then makes off on foot before being caught and arrested by officers.

He was found guilty of dangerous driving, drug driving, and several document offences, on Wednesday, December 1 at Bradford Crown Court.

On Friday, December 3, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail for his offences.

North Yorkshire Police said its officers began giving chase to Walsh on April 25 2020, when he failed to stop for them on the outskirts of Hellifield, on the A65.

Officers found Walsh had put a set of registration plates on the BMW which belonged to a completely different vehicle. The BMW was uninsured.

Walsh was charged with dangerous driving, drug driving, fraudulently using a registration mark, using a vehicle without insurance and driving without a licence.

He was banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay a victims surcharge of £149.

PC Chris Howarth, of North Yorkshire Police’s Operational Support Unit, said: “This was a shocking case of dreadful driving.

"Walsh showed absolutely no regard for the safety of other road users that day. The consequences of his actions were bad enough – and if it were not for the fact that there were only a few vehicles on the road due to the tight lockdown restrictions at this time, the outcome could have been even worse.”

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