Woman drove at twice the speed limit into oncoming traffic to escape police - Leeds Crown Court

Lisa Jagger was chased by officers along the eastern relief road in Wakefield after they witnessed her driving on the wrong side of the road to overtake a queue of traffic, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Jemma Stephenson said officers had been in the queue of traffic on Bar Lane at around 4.30pm on January 21, 2020 when Jagger pulled onto the wrong side of the road in her purple Nissan Qashqai and began overtaking the stationary vehicles.

The court was told she broke the speed limit and narrowly avoided colliding with a car coming the other way.

When the police tried to pull her over, she continued to accelerate away and was pursued along Aberford Road, Neil Fox Way, Doncaster Road and Oakenshaw Lane.

She reached speeds of 70mph on the 30mph roads and was often on the wrong side of the road heading into incoming traffic. At one point, she almost hit a van which had to swerve out of her way.

The 40-year-old then cut across two lanes of traffic as other drivers had to take evasive action before she eventually stopped near to Oakenshaw Farm.

She was arrested and interviewed, admitting she was behind the wheel but denied that it was in any way dangerous.

Jagger, of Howden Way, Wakefield, eventually admitted a charge of dangerous driving.

A probation report found she now took full responsibility but was not taking any medication for her mental health at the time of the offence.

She has since been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and it was determined by a doctor that she had been suffering a paranoid episode at the time of the offence.

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Mitigating, Stephen Smithson said: "This lady ran a successful hairdressing business for 12 years and had her own house and car.

"She got involved with a relationship with a man and from there a downward spiral started."

Judge Timothy Clayson admitted it was a "rare set of circumstances" involving the defendant.

He said: "This was very dangerous driving and continued for some considerable distance at excessive speed, you failed to stop and put a number of motorists at risk.

"It's clear you were suffering from a psychotic illness for a number of years and had extensive paranoid delusions related to the police.

"As soon as you saw the police car following you, you panicked."

He said the custody threshold had been passed by "some measure" but her six months jail sentence could be suspended for 18 months.

She was banned from driving for 18 months and told she must take an extended re-test to get her licence back.

This article was first published by the Wakefield Express.