a day ago
Blackwood wine drinker led police on high-speed chase
Thomas Buchanan, 32, from Blackwood sped at 70mph in a 30mph residential zone before he was boxed in by officers in the Nelson area of Caerphilly.
He also drove the wrong way around a roundabout and turned his lights off during the five-minute pursuit in the early hours of the morning.
After hitting a police car, he made a run for it from his Vauxhall Corsa before he tumbled over and was arrested, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
He was chased from Mountain Ash in Rhondda Cynon Taf before being caught in Nelson, prosecutor Elin Morgan.
(Image: Thomas Buchanan)
Buchanan, of Millbrook Road, Pontllanfraith admitted dangerous driving with the incident occurring on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
The defendant has 21 previous convictions for 47 offences and these include dangerous driving, drug driving and driving whilst disqualified.
He was handed a suspended prison sentence last November for a bizarre attempted burglary in Pontllanfraith.
Buchanan, also known as Thomas Bowden, tried to break into a stranger's house by using a brick after drinking four of five bottles of Lambrini.
The court heard on that occasion that when the police arrived to arrest him, he was so drunk he couldn't stand up.
He was jailed for jailed for 21 months, suspended for 24 months, ordered to complete a 24-day rehabilitation activity requirement and made the subject of a 12-month alcohol treatment requirement.
Abdallah Barakat representing the probation service said Buchanan was in breach of the suspended sentence after failing to comply with the rehabilitation activity requirement.
Kevin Seal for the father-of-three said his client drinks four or five bottles a day after overcoming a heroin addiction.
His barrister asked that the defendant be given the full one-third credit for his guilty plea to dangerous driving.
Judge Eugene Egan told Buchanan: 'This was extreme dangerous driving in my view.
'You deliberately sought to avoid the police and you exposed others to the risk of significant injury or worse.'
Buchanan was jailed for 12 months for the dangerous driving and the judge activated a prison term of 18 months for being in breach of the suspended sentence last year.
That latter portion was imposed consecutively, making a total imprisonment term of 30 months.
The defendant was disqualified from driving for four years following his release from custody and he must sit an extended retest.
