Two crooks who stole a Mercedes car have been jailed following a 115mph police chase which ended in a dramatic crash.
Sharp-eyed officers spotted the Merc SLK on Hoole Road after police were alerted by the owners who heard their vehicle being taken from the driveway of their Kilmorey Park home, Chester, at 2.30am on August 15.
The driver refused to pull over and continued on to the M53 and M56 but the car crashed in spectacular style after exiting the Hapsford junction at an estimated 115mph where it collided with the barrier.
Pursuing officers hit the broken barrier which acted like a giant spring and propelled the £40,000 unmarked BMW into a ditch. The car was written-off but miraculously neither officer was injured.
Passenger Lee Montague, 20, of Toxteth, Liverpool, was found unconscious in the car and taken to the intensive care unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital but later recovered.
Driver Jamal Mhagrh, 21, of Kensington, Liverpool, suffered a serious head injury but with adrenalin coursing through his veins staggered 150 yards into a field where he collapsed. He was only found thanks to a police sniffer dog and may otherwise have lain undiscovered.
He spent 48 hours in a coma at Fazakerley Hospital but made a full recovery.
Last week Montague was sent to a young offenders’ institute for two years after being convicted at Chester Crown Court of burglary and aggravated vehicle taking. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Mhagrh was sentenced to two years in prison for burglary and asked for two other burglaries at St Helens and Ellesmere Port to be taken into consideration in which cars were also stolen. He was also given six months for aggravated vehicle taking and banned from driving for three years.
Police say the men stole the Mercedes after forcing a rear kitchen window and using a large pole from the garden to hook the car keys from the kitchen table.
DC Damian Tierney, of Chester Proactive CID, said: “We are very pleased with the court’s decision to sentence Mhagrh and Montague to a lengthy prison sentence each. Burglary offences can be very impactive on victims, and we take this offence very seriously and leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of burglary offenders.”