A 31-year-old Gloucester man convicted of numerous traffic and drug offenses while constantly disobeying court orders has gone off the road – jailed for six months.
Ieuan Callaghan, prosecutor at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday (April 17) said that at 3:15pm on September 18, 2022, in an unmarked vehicle, police saw the rider of a motorcycle, slowing down at makeshift traffic lights on the Bruton Way, Gloucester, skipped a line of standing cars .
The prosecutor said: “The motorcyclist, who was later identified as Mitchel Cox of Orchard Close, Longford, was ahead of other vehicles on the Black Dog Way and was soon traveling at more than 30 mph, overtaking other vehicles.”
“Cox then went through a red light on London Road with pedestrians present.
“Another group of officers saw Cox passing them at high speed on Estcourt Road. They followed in the same direction and ran into him a few minutes later after he crashed and was seen picking up the motorcycle.
“As soon as Cox was approached, he admitted he was a disqualified driver and had no insurance. Cox suffered a series of injuries when he crashed his motorcycle and was taken to hospital for treatment.
“Cox delivered a negative breath test for alcohol but a positive hit for drugs, namely cocaine. However, he was not charged with this offense.”
In his police interview, Cox admitted that he had not been officially trained on such a large motorcycle and was the reason he ran the red light. He also indicated that he was taking prescription drugs.
The court heard Cox denied being involved in an accident after seeing the police car. Cox suggested the collision was due to him hitting the car while overtaking.
Cox pleaded guilty to riding a KTM Duke 2 motorcycle on Black Dog Way, London Road and Estcourt Road without due care and attention on September 18, 2022 while being disqualified on the same day and driving a vehicle without a valid one used liability insurance. He admitted violating a suspended sentence for similar offenses.
Cox was sentenced to 13 months in prison, suspended for two years in November last year after being convicted on April 19, 2021 of licensed driving under the influence of cocaine and cannabis and dangerously driving a Jeep Cherokee along Tewkesbury Road in Gloucester was sentenced the same day. He also pleaded guilty to driving an Audi A3 on the A40 Golden Valley while under the influence of cannabis on May 18, 2021.
Lloyd Jenkins, defending, said: “Cox are clearly running out of chances. He faces charges of a number of drug and traffic offenses.
“He’s been granted the benefit of the doubt on many previous occasions but I feel like he’s run out of the road. These offenses were committed before he received the suspended sentence, but the charges had not caught up with the other offenses, so they could all be convicted together.
“My job, however, is to convince the court that activating the suspended sentence would be unfair. Cox is fully cooperating with parole. He admits he made a bad decision to ride the bike and lost control of it six minutes later.
“In June last year he was involved in a serious traffic accident as a passenger in a car, leaving him with a fractured pelvis and a 13-day coma.
“You might have thought that within weeks of that accident he wouldn’t want to ride that big a bike, but he did.
“Cox regrets what he did and admits he acted stupidly. I still believe it can be managed in the community.”
Judge Rupert Lowe told Cox: “You stand before me to be convicted of a range of traffic and drug offenses which are normally dealt with in Magistrates Court but face the Crown Court for your continued offences.
“Your criminal history has an issue on which the courts give you opportunities, but you have chosen to ignore those court orders. Last year you were sentenced to 13 months in prison for dangerous driving and driving under the influence. They violated that order by failing to comply with the terms of their probation. A pattern is developing here.
“The court tells you to do things, but you don’t do them. You probably think the court is never hard on you anyway, so why bother?
“Then you have not surrendered to this court. And here we come to your current crimes. But despite the fact that you did cocaine and have a suspended sentence, you chose to ride a powerful motorcycle that you uninsured and carelessly drove through running a red light and falling.
“I have no choice but to activate part of the suspended sentence and impose a prison sentence for the current crimes.”
The judge sentenced Cox to six months in prison and imposed a 21-month driving ban from his release from prison.
Judge Lowe concluded, “You must comply with court orders going forward.”
