Kenneth Davison, 61, contacted police at 8am on Wednesday, April 8, telling a 999 operator he was "Mad Kenny". Acting unpredictably and aggressively, he demanded to speak to the commanding officer.
He declared he was going to cause carnage on the Coast Road and insisted it needed shutting because he planned to drive at 160mph and "go bang". He stated he would "end it all" and requested the road be closed so nobody else would be injured.
Pursuit reaches 125mph
After giving the make and registration of his vehicle, multiple police units were dispatched to search for the Audi S3 he was operating. An officer located him near Battle Hill with hazard lights flashing while weaving across lanes, forcing other motorists to decelerate to avoid collision.
The officer initiated pursuit and made "tactical contact" but this proved unsuccessful as he refused to halt and continued his dangerous driving. He accelerated away at over 100mph in a 50mph zone.
He then started braking sharply and his vehicle began producing thick clouds of smoke, creating a hazard for the chasing police and other road users by impairing visibility near the Silverlink. Officers made tactical contact once more but Davison gestured at them through his window and sped away at speeds estimated to exceed 125mph.
Collision with medic's car
As he neared the Billy Mill roundabout, he barged his way through traffic queuing at a red light, smashing into a vehicle belonging to a medic heading to their hospital shift.
Officers then carried out tactical contact for a third time but Davison still refused to stop. He made additional hand gestures before speeding past the police vehicle, which was now out of action due to the severe contact it had sustained. The constable was also left nursing pain in his hand and shoulder from the crashes.
Davison began travelling the wrong way along the Coast Road, where a second officer gave chase. He was clocking 120mph before taking the slip road towards Silverlink, climbing onto a grass verge and overtaking a line of waiting traffic.
Chase ends on crash barrier
As he neared the junction for the A19, a PC executed tactical contact once more but again he sped away. A third constable then entered the chase, positioning his patrol car in an attempt to block him from accessing the A19.
Additional tactical contact was deployed to try to halt him but this likewise proved unsuccessful. Davison began heading towards the entry slip road back onto the Coast Road and officers once again rammed him, forcing him up the embankment on the slip road.
To the constable's astonishment, he continued driving, despite his motor now being badly damaged. The chase only concluded when Davison smashed just beyond the slip road for Battle Hill and the vehicle became trapped over a crash barrier.
The pursuit had gone on for six minutes and the Audi was left with extensive front-end damage and the airbags had deployed. Police discovered an empty vodka bottle in the car, and Davison seemed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
There was a potent smell of alcohol, and he was grinding his teeth, had white residue around his lips, and appeared to be hallucinating. He admitted to having taken cocaine.
Sentence and court remarks
During police questioning, he confessed that he intended to take his own life, fearing he was about to be dismissed by his employer. He expressed a desire for the police to assist him in ending his life.
Davison, from Ellington Close, Newcastle, who has a record of 17 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, and failing to provide a specimen. He received a 14-month suspended sentence for 18 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work, an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days, and a driving ban for 30 months.
Judge Penny Moreland stated that he had thwarted several attempts to prevent him from carrying out his threat to wreak havoc through his dangerous driving. The judge noted that 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, stated that Davison has children and grandchildren, adding: "It was an awful incident of dangerous driving and he is lucky he didn't hurt somebody else or himself." The court was informed that he had been struggling with an "adjustment disorder" due to difficulties coping at work.
