Chesterfield learner caught with 50 LSD tabs after police chase in mum’s car

Josh Finney, 19, stopped at green lights, moving off as they turned red, swerved across lanes and went the wrong way around a roundabout and a one one-way street.

The cocaine-fuelled learner driver, just 18 at the time, was finally brought to a stop when police hemmed him in using a police van and pulled him from the driver’s seat.

Sinjin Bulbring, prosecuting, told Derby Crown Court how on August 24, 2020 the teen first came to a police patrol car’s attention at Alma Leisure Park’s McDonald’s.

He said: “The red Ford Fiesta was revving its engine - as police drove out of the drive-through two males said the driver was swerving all over the place.

“When the Ford Fiesta exited the vehicle had learner plates on so the police followed it as it navigated the wrong way around a roundabout.

“On Derby Road it stopped at green lights and pulled off again as the lights turned red - it went towards Hornsbridge Roundabout and before green lights waited for them to turn red then went through.”

Police activated lights and siren after Finney swerved across lanes at the busy roundabout clipping kerbs and they received a call saying he was on drugs and in his mother’s car.

However the youth ignored the police, who followed at a distance and cut him off with the aid of a marked van after he drove down a one-way street at West Bars.

Mr Bulbring said: “An officer ran towards the Ford Fiesta but it drove forwards, narrowly missing his legs - the driver was pulled from the front seat and taken to the ground.”

A roadside drugs test showed Finney was positive for cocaine and a search revealed a four-inch lock knife in his pocket.

In custody various class A and B drugs were found in the defendant’s underwear.

Further searches of his vehicle uncovered weighing scales.

Over three grams of MDMA, nearly a gram of Ketamine and 50 LSD paper tabs were uncovered.

The court heard Finney had no previous convictions and that there had been a delay in bringing the case to court due to lengthy analysis of the drugs.

Recorder Justin Wigoder told Finney that nearly one-and-a-half years had passed since the offence and if the case had been heard sooner he would have got “immediate custody”.

However he said: “These are serious offences - particularly the bladed article and dangerous driving - but it’s clear you’ve been taking serious steps to put your life back on track.

“It seems to me it would be wrong to send you to prison today - you’ve been given a chance because of your age, previous good character and the time that has passed.”

Finney, of Birchwood Crescent, Chesterfield, admitted possession of class A and B drugs, dangerous driving, possession of a bladed article, driving while unfit through drugs, driving unlicensed and uninsured.

He was jailed for nine months suspended for two years, handed 200 hours unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation activity days and a 12-month driving ban.

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