A driver has been banned from the roads after leading police on a blue-light chase across the Black Isle.
Jake MacDonald was clocked at 116mph on the A9 at Arpafeelie, before speeding away from officers who took up the pursuit.
MacDonald continued driving at speeds of up to 80mph even after he burst a tyre trying to navigate traffic calming measures.
He eventually stopped the vehicle and made off on foot, leaving his driving licence behind in the vehicle.
MacDonald, 25, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a charge of dangerous driving in relation to the incident on August 21 2020.
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told the court that police were conducting static speed checks at Arpafeelie on the A9 when MacDonald’s Seat Ibiza flew by at 116mph before being “quickly lost from sight”.
The car turned left at the Tore roundabout and headed towards Muir of Ord on the A835, before heading along the B9169 towards Mulbuie and then onto the A862.
Dangerous driver was ‘accelerating harshly’
MacDonald was “accelerating harshly”. He travelled through 20 and 30mph speed limits at around 55mph.
Ms Duffy-Welsh told Sheriff Sara Matheson that at this point MacDonald’s car was being pursued “by a marked BMW with blue lights activated.”
In the village of Conon, MacDonald struck a curb stone in traffic measures, resulting in one of his tyres deflating. There were pedestrians in the vicinity at the time, the fiscal added.
But even a flat tyre failed to slow him down, with MacDonald continuing to flee at speeds of up to 80mph until he stopped his car at a locked gate to the Belladrum Estate.
He then made off on foot “despite clear instructions to stop”.
A check revealed the vehicle was registered to MacDonald and his driving licence was found inside it.
The chase was captured on the dashcam of the marked BMW.
Solicitor David Patterson said his client had been dealing with issues at the time of the incident, which represented “an impulsive moment and one that he came to soon regret”.
‘Not in the right frame of mind’
He said: “He was not in the right frame of mind, now that he is he accepts full responsibility.”
Mr Patterson said MacDonald, of Murray Terrace, Smithton, was in full-time employment and now had a stable relationship and there had been no offences since the date in question.
Sheriff Matheson told MacDonald: “You should understand that you will never be closer to going to jail than you are right now.”
The sheriff instead placed MacDonald on a community payback order with 270 hours of unpaid work in the community.
She also banned him from the roads for 43 months, after which he will need to sit and pass the extended test in order to drive again.
