Jail for passenger in high-speed police chase tragedy on A5 in Shrewsbury
A 20-year-old man has been jailed for being in a stolen car which was driven on the wrong side of the road for a two-mile stretch of the A5 in a high-speed chase with police.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard Jamie Jones was the passenger in the Vauxhall Corsa during the pursuit, which ended tragically when driver Stefan Boswell was killed, on June 6 last year.
Prosecutor Mr Kevin Jones said the car was being driven by Jones' uncle, Mr Boswell, who picked his nephew up after stealing it from the driveway of a home in Craven Arms earlier that night.
The prosecutor said the chase only ended when Mr Boswell lost control of the car going the wrong way around the Emstrey Island at Shrewsbury, mounting the embankment and crashing into a lamppost.
Mr Boswell, 20, from Wolverhampton, was flung from the car and died at the scene. Jones, also 20, of Manor Road, Walsall, suffered serious injuries including six broken vertebrae, a broken collarbone and fractured ribs.
The crash forced the closure of the A5 and ushered in hours of traffic chaos in the county.
Jones had pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated vehicle taking at an earlier hearing.
Prosecutor Mr Jones said the car first went onto the wrong side of the A5 after leaving the Dobbies Island in Shrewsbury with police in pursuit. Plans were put in place to deploy a stinger at the Emstrey Island, the next one along, before Mr Boswell lost control on the island, the court heard.
Mr Andrew Holland, for Jones, said his client had always maintained "little or no recollection" of the actual incident itself.
"He had no involvement in the burglary, but he concedes he got into the car and thereafter it was driven dangerously by his uncle, who was a very similar age.
"He has suffered serious degrees of guilt and remorse in this case. He bitterly regrets getting in the car and feels he could have done more to stop what happened."
Recorder Stephen Thomas sentenced Jones to 12 months in prison.
He said: "The vehicle was driven badly by your uncle. He drove, at speed, the wrong way down the carriageway for about two miles. The police were following but he took no regard of that.
"The consequences thereafter were tragic. The car crashed, your uncle was thrown from the vehicle and died while you yourself suffered serious injuries.
"These are the potential dangers in becoming involved with stolen cars and you must take responsibility for your part in it."
