Champion kickboxer led police on Hartlepool chase while under influence of cannabis

Curtis Moran, 19, a champion kickboxer, raced through residential Hartlepool streets at up to 70mph in the middle of the day while being pursued by a police car.

He drove on the wrong side of traffic islands, roundabouts, went through a red light and clipped another car, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The chase happened on December 27 at about 2pm and spanned Owton Manor, Rift House and Ward Jackson Park area before Moran’s VW Golf suffered mechanical failure on Hart Lane.

He was also carrying three passengers who jumped out of the car near the end of the chase.

Moran, who only had a provisional licence, failed a roadside and blood test for cannabis.

Ashleigh Leach, prosecuting, said Moran failed to pull over for police in Wynyard Road after his car was seen acting suspiciously the night before.

She said: “The defendant continued to drive well above the limit consistently reaching 70 miles per hour in 30 zones.

“He headed towards Ward Jackson Park which was full of families and young children. He drove through another residential estate and over a grassed area.”

Moran, of Elliott Street, Hartlepool, admitted dangerous driving, drug driving, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and without insurance.

Martin Scarborough, mitigating, said as well as being an accomplished boxer and British champion kickboxer that Moran also had a difficult upbringing but now has an apprenticeship.

He suggested he had been “egged on” by the other people in the car, adding: “He has good attributes which I accept he didn’t show on December 27 by this piece of bad driving.

"He’s a decent young man who’s trying to make a career for himself.”

Describing Moran’s driving, the judge, Recorder Andrew Dallas, said: “It was appalling and it was dangerous and it was entirely good fortune that nobody was killed or seriously injured whether it was yourself, the people in your car or third parties”.

Moran was given 10 months youth custody, which was suspended for two years, and banned from driving for two years.

He will also have to pass an extended driving test and must complete 200 unpaid hours of community work.

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