Drink-driver’s 70mph town-centre chase

A Drink-driver led police on a chase through Oldham centre reaching speeds of up to 70mph, a court was told.

But he admitted later he couldn’t remember a thing about it.

Sean Chadderton (24), who drank more than twice the legal limit, ignored all attempts to get him to stop and eventually lost control and crashed.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that he had been so drunk he could remember nothing of the incident, shortly before midnight on March 10.

Sentencing him to 10 months in prison, Judge Stephen Lowcock told him: “You embarked on an extraordinarily stupid and dangerous course of driving. You drove through road junctions and red traffic lights without slowing down, reaching speeds of around 70mph at one stage.

“This was a prolonged episode of bad driving which only ended when you crashed your car.

“It is a miracle that you did not seriously injure or kill someone, and the public would be rightly horrified if I did not send you into immediate custody.”

Michael Morley, prosecuting, said Chadderton, of Hillside Avenue, Clarksfield, was spotted by police in Frederick Street, Oldham.

Officers were concerned about his driving and followed his blue Nissan, flashing him to pull over.

Chadderton, who had a female passenger, sped away along Werneth Park Road, despite speed humps.

Police clocked him driving at 70mph on Ashton Road — at that point a 30mph zone.

On King Street he drove along a bus-only lane, went through red lights and his car swerved from side to side. Trying to brake as he neared a roundabout close to Sainsbury’s, he lost control and ploughed into street signs.

Jaime Hamilton, defending, said: “There are worse cases that come before the courts, but it has to be conceded this was a bad piece of driving, aggravated by the fact that he intoxicated.”

The offence came only seven days after Chadderton had been given a community order by Oldham magistrates for causing criminal damage.

Chadderton was sentenced to 10 months for dangerous driving, with two months concurrent for drink-driving. He admitted the offences.