0

Penrhyn Bay man sentenced after drone air persuit


October 28, 2022 - 1026 views

A local man has been sentenced following a police pursuit whereby he decamped and was later found thanks to drone footage.

29-year-old Robert Lawrence Yates of Penrhyn Bay appeared before Mold Magistrates Court this week where he pleaded guilty to failing to stop, driving without due care and attention and driving without insurance.

He must now pay a total of £506 in fines and costs and was given nine penalty points on his licence.

During the early hours of Saturday, 2nd April an officer from our team was on patrol in Colwyn Bay following reports of anti-social behaviour on the Abergele Road area. The officer’s attention was drawn to a grey coloured BMW that was driving towards him without any headlights. The BMW turned onto Woodland Road East where the officer activated his blue lights and the BMW failed to stop.

A pursuit was declared, and the BMW drove along Woodland Park onto The Old Highway before turning into Nant y Glyn Road. At the time it was travelling well in excess of 50 miles per hour in a 30mph zone. Yates’ manner of driving – via residential streets at speed and with no lights was said to be "appalling".

The BMW then crashed through a hedge into a field and continued driving before crashing through another fence bordering woodland. The driver then fled the vehicle.

An officer from HGC Uned Drôn / NWP Drone Unit arrived and using a drone equipped with thermal imaging, within minutes found a man in the field immediately on the opposite side of the woodland. The man, who thought he’d escaped, continued along the tree line where he was then met by officers and was arrested.