SEALY:HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER SPARKED BLEW UP STOLEN MERC IN COP CHASE

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A hit-and-run driver who sparked a bomb scare in central London after he blew up a stolen Mercedes in a high-speed police chase has been spared jail.

Duwayne Sealy, 24, caused more than £30,000 worth of damage when he ploughed his car into two black cabs while speeding away from police near Liverpool Street station.

One cab passenger was left with a broken collarbone while a driver was left pinned in the wreckage of his taxi as his passenger sprinted away from the crash scene without paying.

Police who attended the crash on September 4 last year thought the fireball from the exploding Mercedes was a bomb blast, the Old Bailey heard.

But the judge let Sealy off with a suspended sentence after hearing how the unemployed driver ‘did not intend to cause any harm’.

Isabel Delamere, prosecuting, told the court how Sealy had no insurance and only a provisional licence when he bought the Mercedes from a friend for £200 a week before the crash.

The car had been stolen after a burglary on August 22 but Sealy claimed he only found out it was stolen after he had handed over the money.

He was driving the Mercedes along Bishopsgate in the City of London at about 8.30pm on September 4 when a marked police car ordered him to pull over and he ‘panicked’.

Miss Delamere said: ‘The officer indicated for him to pull over using sirens and blue lights.

‘Before the officer could get out and speak to the driver, the car reversed and drove through the small gap between the police car and the kerb.

‘It sped off north over a pedestrian crossing at 50mph before losing control of the vehicle.’

Sealy hit a black cab head-on near the junction with Brushfield Street then hit another taxi, shunting it into a third cab.

Miss Delamere said: ‘The Mercedes hit the front of the first cab, tearing off the bumper and causing severe damage to the front of the vehicle.’

Sealy carried on speeding north up Bishopsgate and hit another black cab, who described the impact as ‘like a bomb’.

The impact shoved him into the path of the third taxi while Sealy raced off again, narrowly missing a silver Ford Fiesta before hitting a lamp post.

Miss Delamere said: ‘The rear wheels span as the defendant revved the engine, from which smoke was billowing.

‘He then ran off north up Bishopsgate. The Mercedes then caught fire.’

Members of the public helped pull the injured taxi drivers clear of their wrecked vehicles, although one of the cabbies’ passengers took the opportunity to run off without paying, said Miss Delamere.

One of the victims was later taken to hospital and treated for a broken collarbone while police, fire and ambulance crews cordoned off the blaze.

A policeman patrolling on foot near the crash scene followed Sealy and borrowed a push bike from a passer-by to give chase.

Sealy eventually gave himself up after a brief struggle and pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance or driving licence and failing to stop at City of London Magistrates Court.

Julian Knight, defending Sealy, said his client ‘did not intend to cause any harm’ and had ‘learned his lesson’.

He told the court: ‘He accepts that his driving was dangerous and serious injuries could have resulted from his actions.

‘He panicked and behaved, as he accepts, totally inappropriately.’

The judge, Mr Recorder William Clegg, QC, sentenced Sealy to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered him to complete a two-year supervision order and do 180 hours unpaid work.

Sealy will also be disqualified from driving for two years and will have to take an extended driving test before getting a licence.

The judge told him: ‘You caused over £30,000 worth of damage, much of it uninsured. It was a miracle that people were not more seriously injured as a result of your driving.

‘You have come within a hair’s breadth of going to prison today.’

Sealy, who lives at a homeless hostel at Centre Point, central London, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and failing to stop.
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