A POLICE officer laying a stinger device was thrown over the bonnet of the car he was trying to bring to a halt, a court heard.

The unlicensed driver responsible, Dean Andrew Watts, was today (Tuesday October 21) jailed for three years after a judge told him he showed, “a complete contempt and disregard” for other road users, the police pursuing him and his two passengers.

Durham Crown Court was told the incident took place between Consett and Stanley, in the hours after Watts’ 23rd birthday.

The defendant, whose record includes previous motoring offences, attacks on police and other violence, was at the wheel of his ex-girlfriend’s Fiat Punto.

She bought it two days earlier for £200 from a scrapyard, and loaned it to him on his birthday.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said the pursuit followed the report of a man getting into a Punto having been observed urinating in a car park, at Tesco, on Genesis Way, Consett, at 4am on June 6.

Watts ignored signals to stop and, in the pursuit that followed, drove the wrong way round roundabouts, causing other vehicles to brake sharply, and reversed towards a police vehicle, causing the driver to quickly back off to avoid a collision.

Mr Towers said as PC Phillip Hardman was attempting to lay a stinger device to halt the Punto, on Grocock Lane, he was struck by the car.

The officer rolled across the bonnet and badly injured his wrist as he fell off the other side.

Mr Towers said the chase continued through Stanley and only ended after a tyre on the Punto deflated and was eventually shed.

It came to a halt after crashing into a vehicle parked on a drive way on a cul-de-sac.

Watts and his passengers fled on foot, but were arrested, and he denied being the driver.

But at an earlier hearing Watts, of Lime Street, South Moor, Stanley, admitted dangerous driving, causing injury by dangerous driving, driving other than in accordance with the licence and without insurance.

The court heard 47-year-old PC Hardman suffered a broken wrist and still receives physiotherapy to relieve pain up to his left shoulder.

Shaun Routledge, for Watts, said the defendant concedes he had been drinking before driving and accepts he must address his alcohol intake.

Jailing Watts, Judge Christopher Prince also banned him from driving for three years.

The judge also commended the “considerable bravery” of PCs Hardman and Colin Brown, who completed Watts’ arrest, “in trying to protect the public.”