Man jailed after high-speed Garda chase on wrong side of N7

Natasha Reid

A man who led Garda cars and the Garda helicopter on a high-speed car chase in Dublin has been jailed for a year by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The court heard that Lee Hyland drove at speed the wrong way down a dual carriageway, causing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid head-on collisions.

The 40-year-old of Millrose Estate, Bluebell in the city was sentenced on Thursday, after pleading guilty to endangerment and dangerous driving at locations on the N7 on July 12th last.

The court was told that gardaí pulled over the Volkswagen Golf that Hyland was driving shortly after midnight. However, as the gardaí approached the car, he sped off again.

Gardaí pursued him, activating their blue lights and indicating for him to pull over. However, over the next five minutes, he led them on a high-speed chase, breaking red traffic lights, mounting a footpath and driving the wrong way down the N7 dual carriageway on a number of occasions.

The Garda helicopter was involved, along with patrol cars. However, the garda cars had to stand down their chase more than once when he did handbrake turns and began driving against the flow of traffic.

Footage taken from the helicopter was shown to the court, with the chase ending when Hyland got out of his car and attempted to flee on foot. He was quickly apprehended and arrested.

The court heard that he had 22 previous convictions, including four for dangerous driving, along with several for having no licence and insurance. He was disqualified from driving at the time, having received a lengthy disqualification previously.

Judge Orla Crowe remarked on the amount of garda resources that had to be used on the night. She noted that he had pleaded guilty only on his trial date.

She imposed an 18-month sentence and suspended the final six months for two years. She also disqualified him from driving for a further four years.