Self-confessed 'idiot' led police on car chase through Corby after eating cannabis gummy

Corby man Damien Mair was spotted by police in Jubilee Avenue and, acting on intelligence, they ordered him to stop.

But instead he led them on a 70mph chase, eventually crashing into another car and shunting it off the road into shrubbery.

Damien Mair then tried to get out of his car and escape from police but was quickly caught.

When he was taken to the police station he told officers ‘I’ve made a mistake. I’ve been an idiot.’ Even his barrister agreed in court that his behaviour had been idiotic.

Mair, of Brisbane Gardens, Corby, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving with no insurance, and failing to provide a specimen at a previous magistrates’ court hearing.

He was at Northampton Crown Court on Thursday (May 1) to be sentenced.

The court heard how Mair, 26, was driving his BMW three series in Westcott Way, Corby on Thursday, March 6, this year. Police had intelligence that gave them cause to want to speak to him, so they put on their sirens and began following him.

Prosecuting, Carrie-Ann Garness said that Mair ‘accelerated off’ in the direction of Jubilee Avenue, reaching a speed of 70mph in the 40moh zone.

“He was overtaking vehicles and broke harshly, leaving marks on the road surface,” she said.

"While attempting another overtaking manoeuvre he collided with a Suzuki Swift.”

The car was shunted off the road into bushes and sustained significant damage.

The collision caused Mair’s airbags to deploy, and he stopped before trying to flee the scene by running into vegetation. But police quickly caught him.

He was given a roadside breath test and blew positive for cannabis, but refused to provide a confirmatory blood sample at the police station.

He told officers that he’d been an ‘idiot’.

The court heard Mair had two previous offences on his record, including one of driving without a licence or insurance when he was a juvenile.

Mitigating, Nathalie Carter said her client knew his case passed the custody threshold. He arrived at court carrying a large overnight bag.

She said that her client claimed he had taken a cannabis gummy on the Sunday evening, four days before the event, and had ‘panicked’ when ordered to stop his car.

"He calls himself an idiot and of course his behaviour was idiotic,” said Ms Carter.

"While this was stupid, dangerous and reckless, it was an isolated incident.”

She said her client had left school at 16 but had gone straight on to take a City & Guilds course and then on to full-time work. He currently works shifts. Mair handed positive character references, including one from a manager at Tata Steel, to the court.

Sentencing him, His Honour Judge David Herbert KC said: “People who drive in the way you did, particularly involving a police chase, run the risk of an immediate prison sentence.”

However, Judge Herbert said he would suspend the sentence.

He gave him 12 months in prison, suspended for 21 months. He will be subject to a weekend curfew monitored by an electronic tag and will have to stay at home between 6pm on Saturday and 5am on Monday. He will also have to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity days. He was also ordered to pay costs of £150.

Mair will also be disqualified from driving for 18 months and will have to take a mandatory re-test before he is able to drive again.

Judge Herbert reminded him that if he was before the court again during the period of his suspended sentence he would be leaving by a different door.

Are cannabis gummies legal in the UK?

Cannabis gummies, otherwise known as ‘edibles’ are not legal for recreational use in the UK.

The psychoactive ingredient in gummies is THC, but sometimes they also contain synthetic cannabinoids - or spice.

There is a huge social media black market which means gummies sold in this way can contain an unknown level of harmful substances.

Many look and taste like normal sweets and are sometimes marketed to young people.

It is often difficult for those consuming the drugs to know how strong they are and how long the effects can last.

In 2022, a 23-year-old law student died after taking just one gummy she bought on a messaging app.

You can read more about the risks of taking edibles here.