Getaway driver gave police the slip despite being unable to walk
A DISABLED getaway driver twice led police on high-speed chases in stolen cars despite not having the use of his legs, a court heard.
Felix Ward, who is paralysed from the waist down, was jailed for four years and eight months
Traveller Felix Ward, 30, used hand-operated rods attached to the accelerator and brake pedals to power the vehicles, which included an Audi A3 he was driving away from the scene of a burglary.
Weeks earlier, Ward crashed a stolen BMW into nine parked vehicles in Windsor.
He was spotted being pushed away from the scene in a wheelchair as he tried to make his escape.
The court heard Ward hit speeds of 90mph before crashing the high-performance vehicle.
Mr Ward admitted a string of offences including burglary and dangerous driving
You have become a career criminal and menace to society
Ward, who was paralysed from the waist down in a road accident six years ago, was jailed for four years and eight months at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
He admitted a string of offences including burglary, dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking.
Judge Dean Kershaw told him: “You have become a career criminal and menace to society.”
The court heard Ward, along with other members of the travelling community, had been to a wedding in Wolverhampton before breaking into a house in nearby Willenhall on February 10 last year.
Ward, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and three accomplices stole jewellery worth £4,500 while the 72-year-old occupant was out.
Christopher O’Gorman, prosecuting, said neighbours noted the registration number of the Audi, which had been stolen from Bicester, Oxfordshire, a week earlier.
The car was next seen 70 miles away in Cheshire.
Police laid down a stinger device in an attempt to deflate the tyres and bring it to a halt but the vehicle swept over the spiked strip without stopping.
Officers lost touch with the car as it hurtled through country lanes before Ward crashed into a wall.
Two occupants fled before police arrived to find Ward huddled under a tarpaulin and most of the stolen jewellery in the car.
His nephew Patrick Ward, of Colchester, and friend Patrick Doran, of Liverpool, both 20, pleaded guilty to burglary and received a two-year suspended sentence with 200 and 150 hours of unpaid work.