Burglar rammed police car 'no less than 11 times'
Cumbria PoliceA burglar who confronted a woman as he raided her home, before repeatedly ramming a police vehicle as he attempted to flee, has been given a three-year jail term.
Patrick Young, of Firlands, in Carlisle, stole the widowed grandmother's handbag and purse containing cash and a photograph of her late husband with her grandchildren, before being pursed by police.
The 37-year-old admitted burglary and was convicted of dangerous driving.
At Carlisle Crown Court, Young was given a 36-month prison sentence and must serve a four-year driving ban when released.
The court heard the woman realised there was someone inside her home, north of Millom, during the early hours of 10 September.
She saw a man in a dark coloured hoodie who fled with someone else in a car.
The grandmother later described being "disgusted" by the pair's crime and had collapsed in the aftermath, resulting in an ambulance being called.
'Reversed repeatedly'
After leaving the property, Young was spotted behind the wheel of a Ford Mondeo bearing false plates.
He refused to stop for police, accelerated away, and on a number of roads between Wath Brow and Whitehaven he travelled at a high speed and performed dangerous manoeuvres.
Prosecutor Gabrielle Harrison told how the Mondeo did eventually come to a stop.
"The reverse lights were activated," Harrison said.
"It reversed repeatedly into the police vehicle, no less than 11 times."
After the Mondeo was stopped, Young and his accomplice fled and Young was found in undergrowth. The other burglar was never traced.
At Young's sentencing hearing, the prosecutor said he had 105 previous offences on his record.
In 2022, he was locked up for burgling rural properties and farms and for stealing a £35,000 motorhome which was used to ram a police vehicle during a pursuit.
Mitigating, Eve Salter said Young had remained out of trouble for a spell, before returning to crime.
"He accepts by the commission of these offences he has completely let himself and his family down," she said.
Sentencing, Recorder Julian Shaw told Young: "Thrill-seeker you may be - you know this kind of offending is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be imposed."
