Convicted robber rammed police car six times during high-speed chase in Nottingham

An unlicensed, uninsured driver who has never even taken a test reversed into a police car on six occasions while trying to escape. Nottingham Crown Court was told how father-of-two Luke Monk, once jailed for carrying out an armed robbery at a Co-op, reached almost 100 mph speeding through Nottingham while being pursued.

During the near 14-minute chase, the 36-year-old kept stopping the Ford Transit van he was behind the wheel of and deliberately crashed it into the police vehicle, causing more than £5,000 of damage. And he was told that it is “a miracle no-one is dead” due to his reckless actions.

Handing him a 20-month jail term, suspended for two years, Recorder Christopher Donnellan KC said: “You did not care for anybody, you did not even care for your passenger, you turned the lights off deliberately and all of the ramming attempts were to try and disable the police car. You travelled down roads at 90mph, vehicles were out on the road.

Get the latest news straight to your phone by joining us on WhatsApp

“It is an absolute miracle that no one is dead and it was entirely deliberate from start to finish. This lasted for 14 minutes and at those speeds you know how many miles it was.”

Rawaid Javed, prosecuting, said the offences happened shortly after 3am on October 12, this year. He said a Ford Transit van being driven by the defendant was spotted by a marked patrol car on the M1 near Nottingham and, as it was believed to be on cloned plates, a decision was made to try and pull it over.

The prosecutor said the vehicle pulled off at junction 26 at Nuthall and headed towards Nottingham. Mr Javed said: “He appeared to be pulling over and so the police car pulled in front of the van to go and speak to him.

“However, as the officer was about to exit the car the defendant drove forward and collided with the passenger side and drove off followed by the police. He then stopped and reverse-rammed the police car.

“He then drove off again, stopped and reverse rammed the police car a second time.” Mr Javed said Monk made off again down Woodhouse Way where he carried out another reverse ram before speeding off at 60mph in a 40mph zone and carried out a fourth reverse ram before reaching 70mph in a 40mph and 80mph in a 30mph limit.

The prosecutor said: “At one point the police were travelling at 97mph and the defendant was doing at least that if not more. He also carried out other dangerous manoeuvres - overtaking cars in the wrong lane and also switched off his lights presumably in a bid to avoid detection.

“He then got out of the van and ran off. There was a passenger with him in the van and he was seen hopping over front gardens before a police dog gave chase and bit him.

“He threw a wheelie bin at the dog but it did not make contact and he then gave up and was arrested. The whole incident lasted just shy of 14 minutes.”

Monk, of Hall Drive, Sandiacre, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, criminal damage, failing to stop and driving without a valid licence or insurance. He has 35 previous convictions for 65 offences. He was previously jailed for six years for carrying out an armed robbery at the Co-op in Draycott Road, Sawley.

Ellesse Taylor, mitigating, successfully argued that her client could be better managed in the community with conditions attached to a suspended sentence order rather than being sent immediately to prison. She said: “He recognises this crosses the custodial threshold, his family are in court today including the person who was in the van (that evening).

“Mr Monk is ashamed of how he acted and has let himself down. It was a rash decision to help a family friend and he was not thinking. He currently works in the engineering industry and there is an email from his employer saying he can return to his job if he is not sent to custody.”

As part of the suspended sentence order, the judge ordered the defendant to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and to attend 10 rehabilitation sessions. He disqualified him from driving for three years and ordered him to pay £500 compensation and £150 costs.