Ringwood man Connor Riley given suspended jail term by judge at Bournemouth Crown Court after admitting a charge of dangerous driving

A driver took police on an hour-long pursuit during which he sped through red lights, smashed through road barriers and ended up crashing his car.

Connor Riley (26) had been stopped by officers after a vehicle check on his car revealed it had no MOT. They had spotted him parked up in a road in Poole at 1.15am on 19th November last year.

They put their blue lights on and an officer went to speak to him, Bournemouth Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Michael Forster said the defendant had admitted to the offence, but when he was asked to get out of his Volkswagen car he refused before “driving off at speed.”

An alert about Riley’s vehicle was sent out over police radio, and ten minutes later two other police officers saw it speeding and driving through a red light.

They followed it and witnessed the defendant, of Kingfisher Way, Ringwood, drive the wrong way up a one-way street. He then drove through more red lights, a road closure barrier and a flooded area.

Armed response officers joined the pursuit and tried to bring Riley’s car to a halt at 2.30am in Ringwood Road. Mr Forster said the defendant then “swerved erratically” before losing control of his vehicle, which ended up on his side.

The prosecutor said a passenger in the car suffered injuries including a broken wrist. Riley was taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries where, Mr Forster said, he became “aggressive” and attempted to wrap an oxygen tube around his neck before he was put in handcuffs.

When Riley, who had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and having no MOT when he appeared at Poole magistrates court in May, was asked about his driving, he told officers he “couldn’t remember” anything about it.

Defence barrister Amber Athill said her client had been “influenced” by a friend in the car but had pleaded guilty to the offences in magistrates court and “admitted it was his fault”.

She said he had been held in custody, which had “frightened the life out of him”.

Ms Athill said a driving ban would bring his self-employed work to “an end”.

Recorder Eleanor Hourigan told Riley he had been lucky that “there was not serious injuries, and no one was killed”.

He was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and banned from the roads for 13 months, after which he will have to take his driving test again.

Riley was also fined £250 and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.