Ex-professional boxer Gary Fox jailed after police chase ended in smash

Gary Fox, 33, wrecked his Nissan Qashqai in a midnight chase by police in Billingham on July 21. He fled on foot and was caught and handcuffed.

He spent 55 days as a remand prisoner before he was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court and jailed for 12 months with a new four year driving ban.

Prosecutor Emma Downing said that police tried to stop his car on Rievaulx Avenue, Billingham, but he sped off driving on the wrong side of the carriageway, narrowly missing a collision with a taxi, and through a red light on Marsh House Avenue.

He collided with roadside signs badly damaging the Qashqai until he abandoned it and ended up under arrest.

Fox had a bad record for motoring offences, she said.

In 2005 when he was 19 he was convicted of dangerous driving, and in 2013 he was convicted of excess alcohol with a similar conviction during his driving ban.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said that his convictions showed that he had a problem with alcohol, although he passed the breathalyser test after his latest arrest.

Helen Towers, defending, said that Fox quit professional boxing last year after he failed a routine brain scan. He began boxing at the age of 13 and he turned pro in 2009.

He impressed prison staff while on remand and he had been persuaded to consider a career as a boxing coach.

Fox of Gainford Road, Billingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, no insurance, breach of an eight weeks suspended jail sentence for excess alcohol.

He must pass an extended test before driving again.