Suspended Sentence Received in Dangerous Driving Case

Case study summary

We were approached by our client's family to represent their son at his sentencing after he pleaded guilty to a dangerous driving charge.

We were able to successfully persuade a Crown Court judge to suspend his sentence due to his age, professional work and promising future.

Case study

Our client was involved in a high speed police chase that lasted over twenty minutes and involved multiple police vehicles, a police helicopter, and a stinger trap being deployed to stop our him.

He pleaded guilty at the Magistrates' Court where it was decided that the driving was too serious and required a Crown Court to make the final decision.

Our client's family approached us to represent him at this sentencing. Understandably, they were terrified that he may receive a prison sentence and wanted to ensure that they had the best representation for their son.

Our client explained that he had been in the car with a group of his friends. While travelling he had broken the speed limit and drew the attention of a police officer. Instead of pulling over he made the regrettable decision to attempt to evade the police. He explained that he had been encouraged by his friends and was especially worried about what would happen to his car had he been stopped by police.

Finally, after a lengthy chase, our client was stopped by a police stinger and arrested.

We carefully put together his mitigation based on his account of the incident and advised him on the pre-sentence report that would be prepared by the probation services. We also instructed an expert barrister to represent our client at the sentencing and put forward his case to a judge.

At the sentencing hearing, we were able to successfully persuade the court that our client's positive characteristics and detailed mitigation warranted a suspended sentence.

Our client was able to leave the court with his family and return to his life and work with the weight of the case off his shoulders.