Jail for ramming cop car in chase

May 15 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

DURING a 25-mile police pursuit down the M90 motorway, a Newburgh driver swerved from lane to lane to prevent officers from overtaking him.

And when Fife Constabulary set up a road block near Kelty, Marc Thomson (24), of High Street, rammed two of their patrol cars in a bid to escape.

When police managed to haul him from his damaged car and handcuffed him they found he had been drinking – and it later emerged he had been almost three times over the legal alcohol limit.

Thomson, said to have a long-standing alcohol problem, was jailed for 10 months at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday for his “scandalous and unconscionable behaviour.”

He was also banned for three years and ordered to re-sit the extended driving test.

He pled guilty to driving dangerously in Edinburgh Road and Breadalbane Terrace, Perth, and on the Perth-Edinburgh Motorway on January 17.

He also drove with 102mics. of alcohol – the legal limit is 35.

Depute fiscal Lucy Keane said that police had initially tried to stop Thomson in Perth in the early hours of the morning but were unable to do so.

He then negotiated a roundabout on the wrong side of the road, crossed the central markings and veered onto the opposite carriageway.

Police activated their blue flashing light and siren as the chase continued.

During the course of a 25-mile pursuit, he deliberately swerved from side to side to stop officers overtaking.

And when he was seen to “gesture” at them, they contacted colleagues in the Fife Traffic Department.

“They carried out a manoeuvre with three police vehicles to bring the accused to a stop,” added the depute fiscal.

“He stopped but then accelerated hard, ramming two police vehicles which were in front of him, damaging his own and their vehicles.”

Solicitor Cheryl Clark said that Thomson said that the accused was under the influence of alcohol at the time and wasn’t thinking clearly.

Shortly before the incident he had been made redundant and was also grieving for the loss of both of his grandparents.

“He was struggling to cope and was drinking heavily at that point.”

He was seeing a counsellor and had taken no alcohol since early April.

She asked that a direct alternative to prison be considered.

But Sheriff McCreadie said: “For such a wicked and highly dangerous road traffic matter, a custodial sentence is the only appropriate one.”