A motorist who drove through a red light and careered across a field during a high-speed police chase in Wishaw has been jailed. Ryan Hill's vehicle subsequently collided with a parked car, Hamilton Sheriff Court was informed.
This incident marked the second of two 'extremely dangerous' driving episodes involving Hill and law enforcement within a short span of weeks. Hill, 33, received a 16-month prison sentence, a five-year driving ban, and was ordered to retake his driving test.
He appeared in court from custody and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on Craigneuk Street and other roads on January 14 this year. The charge stated that he reached 'grossly excessive' speeds while being pursued by a marked police car.
At the time of the offence, Hill was on bail following a similar incident in Kirknethan, Wishaw, on December 5 last year. He admitted to driving a van dangerously on that occasion, again at high speeds, narrowly missing parked cars and speeding along a footpath.
Hill further admitted to driving without insurance on both occasions and failing to provide a breath sample after his arrest in January.
Defence lawyer Stephen MacBride noted that Hill has a lengthy criminal record, including prison time for robberies, but only a minor history for traffic offences. MacBride stated: 'He takes full responsibility for his decision-making which was poor. He was struggling with his mental health at the time.'
MacBride added that Hill had been placed on an 18-month community payback order for another matter in June last year and 'some progress has been made,' but acknowledged that 'he realises the disposal in this case is likely to be custody.'
Sheriff John Hamilton KC told Hill: 'On the first occasion there was extremely dangerous driving in an attempt to evade the police. The second matter saw an equally bad, if not worse, piece of driving as you again attempted to evade arrest.'
