Teen led police on 50-mile chase because he 'wanted to drive like in movies'

A teenager who took police on a high-speed car chase for 50 miles wanted to “drive like he’d seen in the movies”, a court heard.

Karl Stott, 19, tore down the M6 motorway with his pregnant girlfriend in the passenger seat and her friend sat in the back.

A motorist saw Stott, of Rugby, Warwickshire, driving erratically close to a McDonald’s in Rugby at 3am on 15 March and told police.

Officers followed his VW Polo as he drove at 80mph on a motorway works access lane, and when he failed to stop for their blue lights, police tried to block him off at a junction.

The bricklayer then made a U-turn and drove off, going through a red light at 70mph before joining the M6 southbound at 80mph.

Graeme Simpson, prosecuting, said he weaved “in and out of other vehicles”, undertaking and overtaking at speeds between 80 and 100mph.

Simpson said “several” police vehicles became involved in the chase, and Stott had driven in one of the M1’s closed lanes before joining an open one at 80mph despite the 40mph limit.

Having led police on a 50-mile chase, he finally pulled over to give himself up. Police found the rear seat passenger having a panic attack.

“He said he wanted to drive like he’d seen in movies and that he eventually stopped because his girlfriend told him to,” Simpson said.

“He added that the girl in the back had been sick and he couldn’t stand the smell.”

Stott admitted dangerous driving at Warwick Crown Court. He received a 12-month suspended sentence on 2 October.

Judge Anthony Potter said: “About six weeks ago I was sentencing someone who was a year older than you who had driven at a similar time of night in a similar area of the country with two passengers in her vehicle.

“She did not drive on a motorway, she did not approach the speeds you approached, but she managed to crash her car, and as a result of that one of the two people in her car did not get out alive.

“I can’t emphasise how lucky and how fortunate you are that you are not in that position, because your driving in March was quite appalling.

“I find it very difficult to understand how you didn’t crash your vehicle, and at the speeds you were doing, approaching 100 miles an hour, if there was a crash someone would have been seriously injured or killed.

“You were deliberately ignoring the speed limits and the road restrictions and ignoring the normal overtaking rules, and the police spent 50 miles trying to stop you.”

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