Drink driver jailed after Lincoln police chase with child in back seat
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Simon Mason@21:1/5 to
All on Tue Oct 24 10:31:44 2023
A drink-driver who drove the wrong way up Lindum Hill, through Bailgate and Newport Arch, was on Monday jailed for 15 months.
Matthew Hicklin, 33, was carrying a female passenger and a five-year-old child who was unsecured in the back of the car when it crashed off the A15.
Lincoln Crown Court heard it was a Wednesday five days before Christmas when police were alerted that Hicklin’s Renault Megane on clone plates had entered the city around midnight.
David Eager, prosecuting, said the vehicle was followed over the University bridge and entered the High Street at which point the car was caught on CCTV.
Mr Eager said the car was followed by a police officer who observed it turning north onto Pelham Bridge.
“At that point his driving became increasingly more erratic and dangerous, there are now two police vehicles in pursuit of the defendant,” Mr Eager said.
“At the speed he hit the bridge near the Green Dragon pub the vehicle becomes airborne.
“It was a matter of metres from a pedestrian crossing and there was a female stood in the middle of the pedestrian crossing, about to be joined by others.
“He then crosses onto the wrong side of the carriageway on Lindum Hill, a dual carriageway, approaching what is effectively a blind bend.
“At this point the police effectively stopped chasing.”
The car was seen driving past the front of Lincoln Cathedral before turning left and continuing the wrong way through Bailgate and Newport Arch.
“He is doing well over the legal limit, going the wrong way on a one way street,” Mr Eager added.
The court heard Hicklin continued up the A15 and crashed into a hedge and fence near Riseholme College.
Mr Eager added: “No child seat was present, the 5 year old child in the car was stood on the back seat completely unsecured.
“The child’s mother was at the scene and intoxicated.
“The defendant was sat in the car drinking alcohol. He was clearly unsteady on his feet and drunk.”
Hicklin refused to give a breath test and answered no comment during interview.
Hicklin, of Lancaster Place, Lincoln, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance and failing to provide a specimen on 20 December last year.
The court heard Hicklin has 24 previous convictions including nine months imprisonment for dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice, failing to provide a sample and driving without due care.
Mr Eager said the other passenger was arrested for being unfit in charge of a child but no action has been taken yet.
Sam Lowne, mitigating, said: “The only mitigation about the incident itself is that no one got hurt.
“I asked Mr Hicklin how this came about and he said he simply did not know,” Mr Lowne told the court.
Mr Lowne said Hicklin had been out drinking with his partner and her five- year-old child.
“He simply saw the police and panicked.”
Mr Lowne said Hicklin was badly impacted by the suicide of a man he regarded as his father, and was drinking up to 12 cans of beer a day when he was unable to work as a bricklayer because of the winter weather.
Passing sentence Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight said: “This was prime Christmas party season. A dangerous time to be driving around in this way.”
Judge Sjolin Knight told Hicklin he eventually crashed into a hedge.
“The child was stood up, not even strapped in,” the judge added.
“Your partner was intoxicated. You were sat in the car drinking alcohol.”
Hicklin was also banned from driving for three and half years.
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