Escaped prisoner behind bars again after trying to drive wrong way down motorway

Darryl Dempsey, 22, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, has been jailed for two years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, escaping from lawful custody, driving whilst disqualified and criminal damage.

Southampton Crown Court was told that Dempsey had been wanted by police after absconding from Ford prison in West Sussex on July 3 last year, where he had been serving a sentence for a number of offences including burglary and fraud.

On the evening of July 13, Hampshire police officers were alerted to an Isuzu Trooper being driven by Dempsey on the M271 motorway near Southampton and followed the vehicle when it failed to stop.

The chase was ended when police deliberately crashed into the vehicle.

A force spokesman said: “As footage from the National Police Air Service and one of the police cars shows, Dempsey did everything he could to avoid capture, driving across fields, driving on footpaths and even attempting to drive down the wrong way of the M3.

“Knowing just how dangerous driving this would be, one of the officers took decisive action and forced a collision with the vehicle, ending the 13-minute pursuit in Chilworth.

“Fortunately no one was seriously injured as a result of the incident.”

As well as the prison sentence, Dempsey was disqualified from driving for five years and 24 weeks, with an extended test to be taken after that time, and was ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.

Chief Inspector Mark Lewis said: “Thanks to the bravery and courage of our highly-trained officers this pursuit ended without injury and with the man responsible detained.

“If Dempsey had not been stopped at that point, he would have got on to the M3, driving the wrong way, which would have been potentially fatal for him and any other innocent road users.”