A YOUNG man drove the wrong way down a dual-carriageway at night without lights as he tried to shake off pursuing police officers.
It was only for one-tenth of a mile but it was very dangerous, Mold Crown Court was told yesterday.
Connor Carl Bather, 20, was sentenced to 12 months’ youth custody and banned from driving for three years.
The judge, the Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones, said Bather did not seem to have any concept of what was involved in proper and safe driving.
“This is exactly the sort of driving that leads to misery for many families up and down the country when loved ones are killed by someone driving like a maniac, like you,” the judge told him.
Bather was being followed by police after he earlier assaulted another young man at a petrol station.
Police followed at a safe distance as he sped off and drove through Bagillt, a 30mph zone, at an estimated 60mph, with his lights off.
Prosecutor John Philpotts said Bather then drove through a no entry area along a slip road and went down the wrong side of a dual-carriageway. He then returned to Bagillt, drove at speed and officers lost sight of him.
When officers went to his home later – where the engine of his Fiesta car was still warm and it was the only vehicle in the street not covered in frost – he ended up assaulting a police officer.
He told them they had no proof that he had been driving.
Bather, of Penyglyn, Bagillt, admitted assaulting a young man at a garage and damaging his car, dangerous driving, no insurance and a driving licence offence, and assaulting a police officer, following the incident in the early hours of January 13.
In addition to the driving ban, he was ordered to take a re-test.
The incident started at a filling station in Holywell where Bather got involved in an argument with another young man and assaulted him by trapping him between the door and the body of his car. He also punched the driver’s window so hard it shattered.
Bather had told him: “I know where you live in Caerwys. I will burn your house down. You are dead.”
Mr Philpotts said the victim’s girlfriend took a note of Bather’s registration number and alerted the police. Officers later saw him travelling towards Greenfield and followed him, but he accelerated away without lights.
During the pursuit that he drove the wrong way down the dual-carriageway.
When police later went to his home Bather pushed an officer's chest causing him to fall against a wall and then onto the floor. When restrained Bather swore.
Interviewed, he accepted he had “lost his head.”
Myles Wilson, defending, said Bather had a previously diagnosed panic attack condition. He was on medication for depression and anxiety and had an appointment with a panic disorder group.
He had been having a bad week, he had various problems and “the wheel certainly came off that night,” said Mr Wilson.