A former Championship footballer has dodged jail time after leading police through a high speed chase and crashing his £100,000 car.
Gary Madine, 33, played for Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers and most recently Blackpool. He landed himself in hot water after refusing police instructions to stop when they arrived to deal with a disturbance in Birtley, Gateshead, in the early hours of April 3.
The striker instead sped off in his Range Rover, leading cops to pursue him before he crashed into a parked Ford Focus, damaging both vehicles and a post box. Madine tried to continue driving but failed due to the heavy damage, getting out and running away on foot, along with his passenger.
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He was easily tracked down as the registered keeper of the car, though he failed to respond to a request about who was driving at the time of the incident. His actions were described in court as “ridiculously stupid”.
Mark Atkins, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: "The vehicle began to make off and ignored instructions by the police to stop. The police officer got into his car and followed the defendant and activated his blue lights and siren.
"During the police pursuit, he drove dangerously. There's footage of the pursuit from the dash cam of the police car. During the chase, the defendant collided with a white Ford Focus parked outside a house on a path."
Madine, who has four previous convictions for violence, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to stop for police, and failing to provide information regarding the vehicle’s driver.
The judge, Recorder Paul Reid, sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with 250 hours of unpaid work. He was also hit with a 12-month driving ban with a requirement that he sit an extended test before he can get his licence back.
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Shaun Routledge, defending, said: "2023 has been a difficult year for him [Madine], his relationship of some years ending and he suffered a serious injury which led to nine months of rehabilitation and not being able to perform the job he has done for many years. He was feeling very low in April."
Mr Routledge went on to add that Madine's "profession depends on his full recovery", saying: "There are offers from other clubs. Blackpool have been very supportive in terms of rehab. It may be he gets a way back into what he has done all his adult life but he may not. He realises what he did was ridiculously stupid."
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