Former Irish road racing champion jailed for dangerous driving

FORMER Irish super twins champion Connor Behan has been jailed following a 90mph police pursuit in Northwich.

Police saw the 27-year-old, of Townfield Court, Barnton, Northwich, dangerously overtaking two vehicles in his Audi on December 17, 2018.

When they attempted to stop him, Behan indicated to pull over, but as officers arrived, he pulled away, leading the police on a chase reaching speeds of 90mph, before crashing his vehicle.

After the crash, Behan was arrested and he admitted he had had a couple of drinks. A breathalyser showed 48 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, compared to the legal limit of 35. He was also found to be in possession of cocaine and a knuckle duster.

He said: "I saw the [police] lights, I panicked, I was stupid."

At Chester Magistrates Court on Friday Eve Johnson, prosecuting, said that Behan drove dangerously when overtaking vehicles, went through a red light underneath a railway bridge, before ultimately hitting a car, a tree and finally crashing into a resident's driveway wall in Hodge Lane, Weaverham, with such force the airbags in his car went off.

Behan – who began racing in 2004, before becoming Irish road race super twins champion in 2014 and retiring the following year – pleaded guilty to driving dangerously, drink-driving and failing to stop when told to by police.

District Judge Nicholas Sanders sentenced Behan to 20 weeks in jail for dangerous driving and banned him from driving for two years and 10 weeks. He was also handed an eight-week concurrent jail term for possession of the knuckle duster and four weeks each for the cocaine possession and drink-driving, also to be served concurrently. He had previously served one year of a three year sentence for drug supply in Spain.

Judge Sanders, sentencing Behan, said: "I would give you full credit for your guilty plea and you co-operated with police.

"This was a prolonged period of bad driving with a police pursuit and multiple accidents.

"You are a man who has ridden professionally; it should have been patently obvious [to stop] and not to drive in this appalling way. It's an aggravating factor that you were over the limit."

He must also pay a £115 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.