Joyrider rams police car after tearing through village near Chichester at 110mph

Curtis Payne and his tanked up passenger Daniel Reeves were only stopped after police deployed stingers, bursting the Porsche Cayman’s tyres on September 24.

Despite this 34-year-old Payne, who was over the drink-drive limit, kept driving until he rammed a police car in Funtington and was forced to stop.

Both Payne, of Botley Drive, Havant, and Reeves, 31, of Marldell Close, Havant, tried to flee with a second passenger, 27-year-old Liam McGiffen,of Murefield Road, Landport the court heard.

McGiffen failed to turn up to court and a warrant is out for his arrest.

Asked why he risked going to jail and not seeing his two children, groundworker Reeves told the judge: “I was just very drunk sir, I wasn’t thinking straight, I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Judge Roger Hetherington jailed Payne for a year with a three-year and six-month driving ban and retest.

He jailed Reeves for 10 months with a 17-month driving ban.

Sentencing the pair, he said: “One of the worst features of this case it that you don’t have the excuse of youthful immaturity.

“You ended up taking it [the car] and careering round the centre of Chichester and the surrounding countryside at aggressively excessive speeds causing a potential danger to any other traffic or road users.”

Opening the case, prosecutor Jeremy Wright said the car had been taken from Alresford on September 22.

“A couple of days later at 11 at night the car was spotted at the outskirts of Chichester,’ he said.

“The vehicle was travelling at 50-60mph in a 30mph and then subsequently at 80mph through a village towards another village called Funtington, travelling 90-100mph in what would have been a 60mph lane.

“Through that [road in Funtington] the car travelled at about 50mph crossing unbroken and hazard lines.

“At a restricted road [the car] then reached speeds of up to 110mph.”

After stingers were deployed, the car carried on but police were forced to drive over the stingers in pursuit, he added.

Four police cars were damaged to the tune of £3,160, the prosecutor said.

Dad-of-five Payne admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance, drink-driving, and aggravated vehicle taking. He also breached a suspended sentence.

Robert Harding, mitigating, said Payne had stopped offending for a period but then abused drink and drugs.

He added: “Whenever the defendant abuses alcohol or drugs he risks committing crime.”

Reeves, who has 20 convictions for 74 offences, admitted aggravated vehicle taking — telling a judge he was only a passenger in the car stolen two days before in Alresford.

The judge said their offending was ‘dreadful’.

He added the driving took place over a ‘protracted’ period of time.