Cannabis-dealing BMW driver led cops on 100mph chase through Newport before crashing

Abdurrahman Ozcan, aged 23, careered through Newport, evading police with "extremely dangerous" manoeuvres at high speed.

Shrewsbury Crown Court was told police in a marked car were alerted to Ozcan - whose BMW had fake number plates - on the A518, where he overtook a vehicle to put distance between himself and the officers.

David Jackson, prosecuting, said officers put on their blue lights and sirens, and pursued Ozcan into Granville Road, where he was doing 55mph in a 30mph zone, before turning into Boughey Road.

He was doing 75mph in the residential street, before turning into Longford Road. Ozcan then turned down a rural road, where there was barely enough room for two cars to pass each other, accelerating to speeds up to 100mph.

Officers witnessed him overtake a vehicle on a blind bend and, due to the dangerousness of his driving, abandoned the pursuit for the safety of other innocent road users.

When they caught up with Ozcan, they found he had crashed his car into a junction. They saw him throw a box over a hedge.

Officers detained him and seized the box, which was found to contain 112.7g of "skunk" cannabis which, according to a drugs expert, had been "professionally" split into deals.

The expert estimated the drugs to have a top end street value of £1,110.

In his police interview, Ozcan told officers the drugs were for personal use for he and a friend, who he would sell it on to.

Ozcan, of Roe Deer Green, Newport, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving and one count of possession with intent to supply cannabis. He has no previous convictions.

Jas Mann, mitigating, said Ozcan's life "has moved on" since the offences, which were committed when he was 20. Ozcan now works at a nightclub and has a partner and an eight-month-old child.

Recorder Jonathan Taylor said it was a "shocking piece of driving".

"This was extremely dangerous," he told Ozcan. "You were fortunate - and everyone else was who was driving at the time - that there wasn't an accident with more serious consequences. There could have been a serious injury, or worse."

He handed Ozcan a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. Ozcan must also do 100 hours of unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation activity days.

"If you are stupid enough to commit further offences, you will end up back here," Recorder Taylor warned him.