Drug-fuelled driver’s appeal bid fails

 A motorist who brought mayhem to Oldham as he sped away from police, fuelled by half an ounce of amphetamines, has failed to convince top judges his sentence was too harsh.

John Foster (30), of Second Avenue, Oldham, was given a six-year term at Manchester Crown Court in September, last year, after admitting dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, as well as a separate offence of attempted robbery.

Foster’s highway high-jinks unfolded when he tried to evade a pursuing patrol car in Abbeyhills Road, initially finding himself at a dead end.

Lord Justice Hughes, sitting in London’s Appeal Court with Mr Justice Roderick Evans and Mr Justice Wilkie, said this would have deterred most people.

But Foster simply rammed a police car blocking his way, prompting a 10-minute chase in which he sped through built-up areas, negotiating roundabouts the wrong way.

When police fired a “stinger” device to disable his tyres, Foster still tried to escape, but was finally hemmed in by another patrol car. The attempted robbery happened in May, 2008, when Foster car-jacked a delivery van in CopsterhiIll Road, Oldham, although he was unable to drive it away from the scene.

Foster was brandishing a needle and syringe as he wrestled for control of the van with its driver, who at one point feared he had been stabbed by a possibly infected needle.