No jail for driver in Telford cemetery police car crash - 'because prisons are too full'
A drug user has avoided prison for driving into a police car in a Telford cemetery – after his solicitor said the prisons were too full already.
Robert Jones, aged 41, of Fereday's Field, in Woodside, Telford, pleaded guilty to six offences including possession of heroin and cannabis, driving without due care and attention, having no insurance or driving licence, and carrying a knife.
He was spared jail after the court was told that an instruction had been issued to restrict custodial sentences due to limited spaces in UK prisons.
Magistrates sitting in Telford were told that on September 28, 2022, Jones had been driving a Ford Focus in Wellington Cemetery, in Linden Avenue, without due care and attention.
Mrs Katie Price, prosecuting, said Jones "did not see" a police car which he collided with in the cemetery, causing slight damage. His car was searched by officers who found a baseball bat and a knife. Later he was strip searched and a heroin wrap was found in a sock.
Mrs Price said Jones had a "chequered history" and previous for possession.
Steven Meredith, mitigating, claimed a custodial sentence would be "unjust" because of the state of his client's mental health, his guilty plea and his full cooperation.
He said there was a "realistic prospect" of his rehabilitation because of his mother and a supportive partner.
Mr Meredith said Jones had never received help for his mental health.
He added that higher courts in the land had ruled that magistrates should take overcrowding in the prisons into account before sending people to jail.
Presiding magistrate David Silcock handed down a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months and an 18-month community order.
The bench endorsed Jones' licence with six penalty points for the offence of having no insurance, endorsed his licence for driving without due care and did not impose a separate sentence for possessing drugs. The drugs and the knife will be destroyed and Jones will have to pay £339 in court costs and a victims' surcharge.
Mr Silcock said: "Probation are there to help you, and your mum and partner can help. Please engage with them."
Jones said "thank you" repeatedly as he left court.
