Danger driver led cops on 80mph chase from South Shields to Sunderland and then blamed officers for his driving

Incredibly, Jake Molloy, 19, then blamed police for inciting him to put his foot down.

The tearaway, who was found with illegal cannabis, told shocked officers who arrested him: “I wouldn’t have been driving like that if you hadn’t been following me”.

Uninsured Molloy needed hospital treatment after the smash on Friday, May 1, which left his partner in tears and his Ford Focus smashed up against a wall in Horatio Street, Roker.

He has now been banned from the roads and warned his crimes are so serious they can only be dealt with at crown court, which has greater punishment powers.

Molloy was driving his 2006-registration motor in Dean Road, South Shields, just after midnight on Friday, May 1, when spotted by police in an armed marked car, South Tyneside Magistrates Court was told.

Prosecutor Paul Anderson said he was initially driving sensibly but still aroused the officers’ suspicions – and they followed.

Mr Anderson said: “The car is driven within the appropriate speed limits but starts to speed up on the A183 Coast Road at Marsden. It’s a 40mph zone.

“They put on their blues and twos but it has the opposite effect and he goes up to about 80mph.

“He swerves onto the wrong side of the road, misses a bollard at 80mph near Poplar Drive, and carries on at 60mph at Whitburn village.

“It’s then about 80mph past Whitburn, and he goes past cars as he goes on the wrong side of the road.

“As he gets towards Harbour View at Roker, he can’t negotiate a roundabout and clips the curb, and then speeds up as he approaches Horatio Street.

“He tries to turn right but crashes into a wall. He is arrested.”

He added: “He then says to police, ‘I wouldn’t have been driving like that if you hadn’t been following me’.

“In interview, he said that his girlfriend had been crying.”

Molloy pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, and possession of Class B drug cannabis, all on the same day.

He also admitted twice punching a police officer and causing £200 of damage by smashing a window of a property in Burnville Road, near Sunderland city centre, both on Monday, June 15.

Of his driving, Val Bell, defending, said: “It’s a serious matter. It’s all captured on CCTV.”

Magistrates handed Molloy an interim driving ban and adjourned the case for Probation Service reports to Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday, August 12.

Harry Metcalfe, chair of the bench, told Molloy the magistrates’ court’s sentencing powers were not sufficient for his case, warning: “You need greater punishment than we can give.”

Molloy, of Rosevale Street, Hylton Red House, Sunderland, was granted bail on condition he does not enter Burnville Road and does not interfere with prosecution witnesses.

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