A former York rugby player who drove “like a maniac” during a high-speed police chase while high on drugs has been jailed for nine months.
Ritesh Gurung, 24, drove at speeds of up to 100mph on country roads around York – at some points on the wrong side of the road as he “flew” around blind bends and sped from cops.
Driving a high-powered grey BMW estate car, Gurung risked life and limb during a chase along winding country roads during which his tyres literally started “smoking” and other vehicles had to “screech to a stop” to avoid a collision, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rob Galley said that Gurung – who had high levels of cocaine and cannabis metabolites in his system – was first spotted by a police motorcyclist in Malton Lane in the village of Harton near York.
It was at about 4.20pm on 25 October last year when the uniformed officer noticed two men sitting inside the BMW. The smell of cannabis emanating from the car was so powerful that the officer could smell the pungent weed as he passed it on his motorbike, said Mr Galley.
The officer switched on the blue lights and followed the car, but Gurung refused to stop and sped towards Sand Hutton and through country villages on bendy roads.
“He speeds up to 100mph and sometimes twice the speed limits in various villages,” added Mr Galley.
At one stage, an oncoming vehicle had to brake sharply to avoid a collision as Gurung turned into a side road.
“The BMW travelled through Sand Hutton at twice the 30mph limit,” said Mr Galley.
He then sped towards Stamford Bridge at about 80mph on a “damp, rural road” with blind bends, some of which he took on the wrong side of the road.
Gutung turned onto the A166 towards York where he drove at speeds of up to 100mph, then slammed the brakes on as he narrowly missed another vehicle while taking another turn.
“He headed towards Gate Helmsley at about 100mph in a 60mph (zone), then 80mph in a 40mph area and on the opposite side of the carriageway at various stages,” added Mr Galley.
“Another vehicle travelling in the other direction had to brake heavily and Gurung’s wheels or tyres were briefly smoking due to having to stop suddenly.”
The BMW then sped towards Dunnington where it bombed through Church Balk at twice the 30mph limit and again narrowly avoided a collision as it turned into Petercroft Lane, then “flew” straight across a blind give-way junction in York Street.
He let his front-seat passenger get out of the car and then drove at 60mph in a 30mph zone up to Hull Road where he finally stopped for police and was arrested at the scene.
‘Appalling driving’
Gurung, of Heslington Lane, York, was charged with dangerous driving and two counts of driving while over the specified limit for an illicit drug, namely metabolites or breakdown products of cocaine and cannabis.
He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence on Friday (6 February), when Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said he had driven “like a maniac” and that it was “only luck” that he didn’t kill someone by his “appalling” driving.
The offences marked a new low for the once-budding rugby player who has other drug-related matters on his record dating back to his teens.
Gurung had a previous drug-driving conviction from 2018 when he was given a youth referral order.
In 2021, he was lucky to receive a suspended prison sentence for possession with intent to supply cocaine and MDMA, the crystalline form of Ecstasy, due to a delay in the case reaching court.
He had been selling the Class A drugs on the streets of York in broad daylight and had hundreds of pounds’ worth of both drugs and £771 in cash when arrested in April 2019 at the age of 17.
The barrister who was representing him during that case in 2021 said that Gurung had been a top rugby player who had progressed from smoking cannabis to taking hard drugs.
In 2023, Gurung received a fine for possessing Class B drugs.
His solicitor Graham Parkin, mitigating for Gurung at Friday’s sentence hearing in York for the police chase, said his client’s “drug difficulties go back to the first conviction in 2018”.
He said that Gurung, who had held down menial jobs for years, was a cannabis user.
Judge Mr Morris told Gurung: “On 25 October, you had been taking drugs, so much so that your car reeked of it and it could be smelt from the outside when the door was open.
“And so, a police officer went to stop you, and you took off like a maniac, driving a BMW, flying through country villages, going round blind bends, driving on the wrong side of the road, so that other cars had to screech to a stop.
“At one point, when you were about to confront a car head-on, the motorist had to hit the brakes and you had to stop so sharply your wheels started smoking. It was just luck that you didn’t kill anybody.”
He told Gurung: “You did not learn your lesson from when you were young, and this was appalling driving.
“I’m afraid the seriousness of this driving means the only appropriate way of dealing with you, for your second offence of driving over the drug-drive limit, is an immediate prison sentence.”
Gurung was told he would serve less than half of the nine-month jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was banned from driving for three years and three months.
