Would-be thieves tossed tools from car during 90mph police chase

Police saw a black BMW on the A66 near Penrith, Cumbria, as the Covid lockdown loomed around midnight on March 18, 2020. It hit 90mph before entering a layby in which HGVs were parked.

“It slowed down and was crawling past these vehicles,” Brendan Burke, prosecuting, told Carlisle Crown Court, “exhibiting an interest which was later found to be attacking the vehicles and wanting to steal goods from them.”

An unmarked police car tried to block the BMW’s path but driver Grant Bower simply drove over a kerb and “took off”.

It again reached 90mph during a pursuit near Penrith which ended when a stinger device was deployed.

“During the relatively brief chase, the occupants were discarding things on to the A66.

“When it was stopped an additional feature was noted, which is that it had a film over the registration plate which is concluded to deflect ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras,” said Mr Burke.

“Having made arrests, the police then made their way back along the route, looking for things they knew they had seen to be discarded.

“They found pairs of gloves, an angle grinder and a smashed mobile phone which had been thrown from the vehicle.”

Further east, the curtain sides of four parked HGVs had been slashed.

Bower, 29, admitted careless driving and, along with three fellow West Yorkshire accomplices — Kyle Douglas, Thomas Law, both aged 28; and Jake Mitchell, 30 — admitted going equipped for theft.

All had previous convictions but lawyers on their behalf gave mitigation and outlined their respective work and rehabilitation prospects, family commitments and remorse.

Bower, of Radulf Gardens, Liversedge, had lost his job with his father’s ventilation business before the incident.

“He accepts he made a silly decision. The reason he did that was for financial reasons,” said his barrister, Holly Clegg.

Law, a roofer of Peel Street, Heckmondwike, had been out of trouble for a decade before the Cumbria crime.

“He has managed to turn his life around, save for this offence,” said his lawyer, Laura Broome.

Lydia Pearce mitigated for both Mitchell, of Greenfield View, Batley; and Douglas, of Sunnyside Avenue, Tingley.

Mitchell had recently been promoted and was described as an “asset” to his employer.

Douglas, a self-employed bricklayer, was “motivated” to work with the probation service.

All four men had 14-month prison sentences suspended for two years.

Each must complete 180 hours’ unpaid work, rehabilitation requirements and night-time curfews. Bower also received a six-month driving ban.

“You had no reason to be there,” Judge Nicholas Barker said of their trip, “and whatever mitigation and submissions I’ve heard about the idea it was unplanned and was not a determined effort to go on manoeuvres with the intention of stealing, I wholly reject.

“The four of you knew exactly what you were about. It wasn’t a sightseeing expedition.”