A DANGEROUS drug driver was told by his pregnant partner to stop the car before he crashed into a tree during a police chase.

Elliot Penberthy’s pregnant partner was in the front passenger seat as he fled police in Worcester city centre before crashing into a tree on a roundabout, injuring her neck.

The 26-year-old admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop when asked to by a police officer and two counts of drug driving after tests showed he was under the influence of cocaine.

Penberthy was driving a blue Honda Civic at around 2.20am on June 18 last year when he attracted the attention of police officers by driving the wrong way towards St Nicholas Street, up Trinity Street.

Penberthy was forced to come to a stop when he encountered vehicles coming in the opposite direction and spoke to police officers, telling them he did not know the area.

Philip Vollans, prosecuting, said: “One of the officers asked him to pull over and asked for a specimen of breath. At this point Mr Penberthy accelerated rapidly down Trinity Street to St Swithin’s Street, along The Cross and onto Foregate Street. His driving was considered to be dangerous at that point.”

Officers on foot put out a call and a police officer in an unmarked car began to pursue him, illuminating his lights and activating the sirens as Penberthy accelerated in the direction of Ombersley Road.

Mr Vollans said: “Mr Penberthy drove into a bus lane and through a red light at Shaw Street, identified as a particularly dangerous spot in the area.”

Penberthy was driving at 50mph in a 30mph zone and as he approached a roundabout on the A449 he accelerated still further to 90mph. The speed limit on that section is 50mph.

The chase ended when he crashed into the roundabout and lost control of the car.

“The chase concludes when he hits a tree on the roundabout,” said Mr Vollans.

He added: “It’s identified that there was a female passenger in the vehicle described as the defendant’s girlfriend. She was the front passenger.

“She described to the officer that she was suffering from neck pain.

She told the officer she was seven months pregnant. She says she told the defendant to stop but he failed to do so.”

Drug tests showed that Penberthy had 55µg/L of cocaine per litre of blood, more than five times the limit of 10µg/L. He also had 600 µg/L of benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine), 12 times the limit of 50µg/L.

Penberthy was of previous good character aside from a single speeding conviction for which he received three penalty points.

Ben Mills, defending, said the incident lasted around five minutes, covering a distance of around two-and- a-half miles.

He stressed that Penberthy had shown contrition and remorse and also handed up references to the judge, including from the defendant’s mother.

He added: “It’s a situation where he has acted in panic when the police have come.

"Nobody was hurt although that’s a matter of chance.

“He wasn’t showing off to other people and it wasn’t road rage.

“He has taken steps to deal with the underlying issues which led to him making this terrible decision.

"Mr Penberthy took steps himself after this accident to deal with the demons that led him into that situation.”

This has included counselling and confronting the issue of his drug use ‘head on’ by visiting the Beacon Centre in Walsall, the court heard.

“He started taking cocaine to free himself from depression” said Mr Mills.

He described Penberthy as a man with ‘real potential’ and who had a job waiting for him provided he was not sent to prison.

He added: “To send him to prison today would be to crush all of that hope, all of that prospect.”

Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC said: “It’s quite clear this was wholly out of character for this young man.

“He shows proper remorse and the risk of repetition of this sort of behaviour is extremely unlikely.”

The judge described Penberthy as ‘a foolish young man who had learned his lesson’ and said it was not a case where he would impose either an immediate sentence of imprisonment or a suspended sentence.

Judge Pearce-Higgins banned Penberthy from driving for two years and ordered him to complete a 12-month community order with a requirement that he undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.

Penberthy, of Coronation Road, Walsall Wood, Walsall, was ordered to pay the £340 costs within 28 days.

He must also complete an extended driving re-test when his ban has finished.