A Littleport man who led police on a 90mph pursuit through East Cambridgeshire, drove on pavements and caused £3,000 of damage apologised and claimed he had "panicked” after officers caught up with him.
Officers in a marked police car were driving along Stuntney Causeway, in Ely, on March 20 when they signalled for David Holland, 30, to pull over.
Holland failed to stop so officers tried to block him in with their car, but he continued to drive through a small gap, causing more than £3,000 of damage to the police car.
He led officers on a pursuit through Stuntney village and onto the A142 heading towards Soham.
He drove at speeds of more than 50mph in a 30mph zone and hit speeds of more than 90mph on the faster roads.
He dangerously undertook other vehicles before driving along a pavement in a desperate attempt to evade police.
Officers were forced to call off the pursuit as the danger to the public was deemed too great.
However, a short time later, police received a phone call from a Soham resident who said the car had been dumped in Station Road and the driver had walked off.
The resident also managed to get a picture of the driver who officers identified as Holland.
They went to Holland’s home and when he returned he told officers he was “sorry” and had “just panicked”.
Holland, of Ponts Hill, Littleport, later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to stop and was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years at Cambridge Crown Court.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay £1,000.
PC Den Williams, who investigated, said: “Holland's driving was highly dangerous and showed a complete disregard for the safety of other drivers, pedestrians and himself.
“We take the decision to pursue drivers very seriously. It’s never an easy task when we conduct a pursuit as we have to weigh up the seriousness of the offence against public safety, which is paramount to our decision making at the time.
"We will continue to do all we can to help keep our roads safe and bring offenders before the courts."
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