A drug user was arrested after the vehicle he was a passenger in collided with a police car and benches following a burglary.
Martin McDonagh, 29, was visiting Accrington on February 3 this year and joined a raid on a Burnley building company.
Burnley Crown Court heard how a Vauxhall Astra he was a passenger in car that ‘ram-raided’ the front gates before £4,000 worth of plant machinery was stolen.
McDonagh, who has 30 previous convictions for 64 offences, pleaded guilty to burglary, possession of class B drugs and allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.
He was jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for 12 months.
David Birrell, prosecuting, told the court how police arrived quickly at the scene and the Astra driver attempted to ‘ram’ one car and collided with a second. It also collided with a Renault before crashing into benches.
McDonagh was found standing outside the car and said ‘I wasn’t the driver’.
He was found with amphetamines said he was ‘acting under duress’, the court was told.
No other arrests have been made.
Richard Taylor, defending, said McDonagh, of Longfellow Crescent, Oldham, had ‘no idea what was about to happen’ when he got into the Astra.
