Teenager gets suspended prison time for 90mph chase

NINETEEN-year-old Jack Higgins received a suspended 12-month prison sentence after a 90mph bike chase through the streets of Liverpool.

The incident started in the early hours of August 16, 2017 when, around 1am PC Kyle Sayers heard the distinct scream of motorcycles being pushed beyond legal speeds on city streets.

Sayers then spotted a trio of bikes, one of which was riding two up. The officer recalled how the pack of riders displayed generally reckless behavior throughout the pursuit, pulling wheelies, doing more than double the speed limit on 40 mile per hour roads, and even riding on the wrong side of the street at times.

Eventually speeds become even greater at which point PC Sayers opted to call off the chase, worried the pursuit was only exacerbating an already dangerous situation.

Then PC Gareth Berry took over, tailing the hooligans for the remainder of the seven mile pursuit, right up until Higgins lost control of the 600cc Yamaha—which later inquiries would reveal was stolen—he and his passenger were riding, resulting in a nasty crash.

PC Berry said when he came onto the scene of the wreck, he observed the pillion passenger “writhing in pain” due to what the officer called an “obviously broken leg.” Higgins, who was piloting the Yamaha, was taken into custody shortly after he was found hiding nearby under a parked car.

During the hearing at, Judge David Aubrey QC said: “Lives can change forever, mothers and fathers can and have lost their loved ones by that which you were doing on this night in question.

“There could have been a knock at your mother and father’s door, or that of your passenger or in principle any of the pack you were in. When is it that young males will learn that they are potentially risking life and limb not just to themselves but to others. It has to be brought home to you and others that such animal behaviour can not and will not be tolerated.”

In court, Higgins was defended by Frances Hertzog, who tried to argue that her client was a good kid, despite his recent brush with law enforcement—which she argued was motivated by a “pack mentality” and that her client only ran from police because he panicked. “This offense represents a significant fall from grace for a young man who is ordinarily a hard working, caring member of his community,” stated Hertzog.