A DEESIDE man who led police on a high-speed chase through Flintshire was described as a ‘car crash waiting to happen’ as a judge handed him a prison sentence.

Troy Luke - of Sullivan’s Rise in High Street, Connah’s Quay – appeared before Mold Crown Court where he admitted to offences of dangerous driving and drug driving before being sentenced to eight months behind bars.

The prosecution, Nick Williams, told the court that the 20-year-old only held a provisional licence in the early hours of July 17 of last year when the offence took place.

At 4.40am, a police sergeant arrived at the petrol station off Mold’s Wylfa roundabout in an unmarked vehicle. As she drove into the forecourt, Luke’s vehicle drove in front of the officer with no headlights activated.

Given the conditions at the time, the sergeant followed the vehicle and activated her sirens to get Luke to stop his vehicle. What followed was described as an eight-mile police chase at speed through streets in Pontblyddn, Caergwrle and Gwersyllt.

The court heard that Luke travelled at speeds of up to 90mph in some areas, overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles on the road at the time, as well as running through red traffic lights and driving on the wrong side of some roads.

The vehicle eventually came to a halt after the eight-mile pursuit ended when one of Luke’s tyres had become deflated and was forced to a stop.

The court was told that, when boxed in by police officers, Luke was described in police reports as ‘holding the steering wheel and staring directly ahead’. He was also said to have dilated pupils.

Later analysis of a blood sample provided revealed that Luke had a quantity of cocaine in his system – as well as a mixture of cannabis and ketamine. A wrap of heroin was also found whilst searching Troy’s vehicle.

The defence, Simon Rogers, argued that thankfully there was no collision with any other vehicles or injuries to people throughout the chase.

He goes on to say that Troy did make full admissions for the crimes and asked that he be given appropriate credit for this when sentencing.

In passing sentence, Judge Niclas Parry told Luke that he was ‘a car crash waiting to happen’ and thankfully nobody was injured during his dangerous stint behind the wheel.

He said: “You were literally a car crash waiting to happen. It was clear to those that apprehended you that you absolutely no idea where you were or what you were doing - and that is because you were out of your mind under the influence of drugs.

“In that condition you embarked on a police chase over eight miles long that involves excessive speeding and ignoring almost every warning in front of you. This is a very bad case indeed.”

After consideration, Judge Parry told the 20-year-old that custody was his only ‘realistic’ option.

Troy was charged for the dangerous driving – with no separate penalty imposed for driving under the influence of drugs.

He was also disqualified from driving for 22 months and ordered to take an extended retest before getting back behind the wheel. Six penalty points were added to his licence for driving without insurance.