A grandfather who threatened to cause carnage on the Coast Road before reaching speeds of 125mph during a police chase has been sentenced. Kenneth Davison, 61, called police at 8am on Wednesday April 8 this year, telling a 999 call handler he was "Mad Kenny".
Behaving aggressively and erratically, he demanded to speak to the officer in charge. He threatened to cause carnage on the Coast Road, insisting it needed to be shut down as he planned to drive at 160mph and "go bang". He also stated he would "end it all", requesting the road be closed to protect other drivers.
Police pursuit reaches 125mph
After providing the make and registration number of his vehicle, multiple police cars were dispatched to track down the Audi S3 he was driving. An officer located him near Battle Hill with his hazard lights flashing, weaving dangerously between lanes and forcing other motorists to slow down to avoid a collision.
The officer gave chase and attempted "tactical contact", but this proved futile as Davison refused to stop and continued his dangerous driving, accelerating to over 100mph in a 50mph zone. He then began braking sharply, his car billowing large clouds of smoke that posed a serious hazard to pursuing officers and other road users near the Silverlink.
Police attempted tactical contact once more, but Davison responded with hand gestures through his window before speeding off at an estimated 125mph. As he neared the Billy Mill roundabout, Davison forced his way through traffic queued at a red light, causing damage to a car belonging to a doctor on their way to work at hospital.
Chase ends in crash
Officers made tactical contact for a third time, but Davison continued regardless, making further hand gestures before driving past the now-disabled police car, which had been rendered inoperable following the heavy collisions. The officer involved was left nursing pain in his hand and shoulder as a result.
Davison then drove the wrong way down the Coast Road, where a second officer took up the pursuit. Reaching speeds of 120mph, he took the slip road to Silverlink, mounting a grass verge and overtaking a queue of stationary traffic. As he neared the A19 turn-off, a PC made another attempt at tactical contact, but Davison once again sped away.
A third officer joined the chase, positioning his vehicle in a bid to block Davison from joining the A19. Further attempts to stop him proved fruitless. Davison headed towards the entry slip road back onto the Coast Road, where police rammed his vehicle again, forcing him up the embankment. To the officer's surprise, he continued driving despite his car sustaining severe damage.
The chase finally came to an end when Davison crashed just beyond the Battle Hill slip road, his car ending up wedged over a crash barrier. The pursuit lasted six minutes in total, leaving the Audi with extensive front-end damage and deployed airbags. Officers discovered an empty vodka bottle in the vehicle and Davison displayed signs of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Sentence and court remarks
A strong smell of alcohol was present, he was grinding his teeth, had white residue around his lips and seemed to be experiencing hallucinations. He admitted to taking cocaine. During police questioning, he revealed he intended to take his own life, as he believed he was about to lose his job. He asked officers to assist him in ending his life.
Davison, from Ellington Close, Newcastle, who has 17 previous convictions, admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to provide a specimen. He received a 14-month sentence suspended for 18 months with 150 hours unpaid work, an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days and a 30-month driving ban.
Judge Penny Moreland stated he had foiled a number of attempts to prevent him carrying out his threat to cause carnage through his exceptionally dangerous driving. The judge noted he had driven at "enormous speed" and added: "This was 8am at a time when the Coast Road was busy with people driving to work. A number of people must have been frightened of you and inconvenienced by what you did. You had an utter disregard for the risk of danger to others."
Jennifer Coxon, defending, noted that Davison has children and grandchildren, stating: "It was an awful incident of dangerous driving and he is lucky he didn't hurt somebody else or himself." The court was also told that he had been suffering from an "adjustment disorder" due to not coping with things at work.
