A man’s “appalling course of driving” through Aberdeen streets forced police to abandon the pursuit due to safety fears.
Nicholas Paterson first came to their attention when officers who driving in the opposite direction spotted him “lower his face” as they passed in an attempt to hide.
The 28-year-old then failed to stop and sped away when they tried to pull him over.
Paterson led the police on a pursuit through the streets of Aberdeen before officers eventually had to call it off because his driving was so dangerous.
Fiscal depute Jennifer Pritchard told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police were on patrol in an unmarked car on Moir Green around 1.15pm on January 5 2020 when Paterson drove past in the opposite direction.
The officers observed a male driving the Volkswagen Passat “lowered his face”, which they suspected to be an “attempt to not be seen by them”.
‘Accelerating harshly away from the police’
This was deemed “suspicious” and officers turned around to follow.
Ms Pritchard said: “Without any indication from the police, it suddenly accelerated away, overtaking another vehicle trying to turn right onto Cummings Park Circle on the opposite side of the carriageway.
“Police activated their blue lights and sirens, indicating the vehicle to stop. It failed to do so and accelerated at speed onto Cummings Park Circle at what police believed to be grossly in excess of the 20mph limit.
“The police observed pedestrians and parked vehicles at the side of the road and, due to the speed, the car was lost to view.”
A short time later, officers travelling south on Rosehill Drive, towards Hilton Drive, spotted the car in front of them.
Ms Pritchard said: “They again signalled for it to stop and it failed to do so, accelerating harshly away from the police.”
Without giving way, Paterson negotiated the roundabout and continued onto Back Hilton Road.
‘As your lordship probably noted, he still demonstrates a lack of maturity’
The fiscal depute added: “A pursuit was declared, which continued left onto Cattofield Terrace.”
Another left onto Cattofield Place then followed, where Paterson overtook a queue of traffic before turning right back onto Back Hilton Road.
The chase then had to be terminated “due to the manner of driving and speed”.
Officers then received intelligence that Paterson was the driver and were able to identify him from an image.
He also admitted a separate charge of driving with 16 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood, exceeding the limit of 10 microgrammes on Provost Rust Drive on June 7 2020.
‘A particularly bad example of dangerous driving’
Defence agent Shane Campbell said the offences largely spoke for themselves.
He added: “This took place at a time when the accused found himself in every dark place and was struggling in regard to his mental health as a direct result of the breakup of his then long-term relationship.”
The solicitor explained Paterson “tried to deal with things by burying his head by resorting to illegal drug use, particularly cocaine”.
Referring to the earlier incident when Paterson was thrown out of the courtroom, Mr Campbell said: “As your lordship probably noted earlier on, he still demonstrates a lack of maturity.”
Sheriff Andrew Miller told Paterson, of Deer’s Den, Kintore: “This was an appalling course of driving through residential districts of Aberdeen in the early afternoon.
“It’s extremely fortunate that that particular incident didn’t have even more serious results for you or anyone else, but it still represented a particularly bad example of dangerous driving.”
He ordered Paterson to be banned from driving for 32 months, complete 250 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for a year as an alternative to a prison sentence.
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