Car hijacker led police on dangerous chase through Kettering

A man who hijacked a woman's car and sped through the streets of Kettering to evade police has been jailed.

Aiden Holland, 27, reached 60mph in a 30mph zone and turned his lights off in a bid to lose officers late at night.

But he was eventually arrested after he was found hiding near a hot tub a short distance from where he dumped the Vauxhall Astra.

Fortunately nobody was hurt and on Friday (February 26) Holland was jailed after admitting aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving.

Sentencing, Recorder Mark Watson told him: "There was no oncoming traffic, but that was more by luck than judgement."

Leicester Crown Court heard the victim, who had her friend in the passenger seat, had given another man a lift to Burton Latimer at about 8pm on July 12, 2019.

She was asked by him to stay in the car but 15 minutes later another man came out and asked her to drive towards the A14 roundabout.

When she got to the roundabout she was waved down by Holland, who got into the car and began shouting to drive him to Corby because he wanted to find the man she had originally driven to Burton Latimer.

Prosecuting, Lucky Thandi said: "He said the man had stolen his bike and that he would be taking her car until his bike was returned."

When they got near The Beeswing in Rockingham Road, Kettering, Holland forced his way out of the vehicle. He then leaned over the woman, took the keys and gave them to the other man in the car and told him to drive.

The victim reported her Vauxhall Astra as stolen and police spotted it at about 11.30pm in Carina Road and started following it.

But rather than stop it led them on a five-minute chase which was caught on dash-cam.

Reaching speeds of 60mph in a 30mph zone it sped through London Road, Broadway, Queensberry Road, Station Road, Northfield Avenue, Northampton Road, Gipsy Lane and Thorpe Lane, with its lights switched off at times in a bid to lose the police.

Officers lost sight of the car at a T-junction but, with the police helicopter hovering above, it was found abandoned a short time later in Cox's Lane, Broughton.

Holland was found yards away hiding in a garden between a fence and a hot tub, testing positive for cannabis when he was arrested.

Ms Thandi said: "CCTV evidence had been obtained from a Tesco garage from the moment prior to the police pursuit.

"It showed Holland filling the car up with fuel and getting back into the driver's side. He was the driver at that time."

The court heard Holland, a member of the Travelling community who is originally from Leicester, had been given a suspended sentence just months before the incident.

He was then jailed for three years in November 2019, although what his sentence was for was not heard in court, and was due to be released on May 1 this year.

But Holland was not charged for the Kettering incident until September 2020 - almost a year after he was jailed for another incident - after a delay which could not be explained.

Mitigating, Andrew Howarth said Holland is, at times, having to spend 24 hours a day confined to his cell at HMP Peterborough because of the pandemic.

He said he has used his time in custody to take English and maths qualifications.

He said: "He has made some efforts to improve himself in the expectation that he does not want to return (to prison)."

Holland was jailed for eight months, to start immediately, and told he would serve half in custody, effectively adding two months to amount of time behind bars he had left.

He was banned from driving for 16 months - which was increased by four months to take into account the time he will remain in custody - and will have to take an extended re-test.

Recorder Watson told him: "This was not your car to take."