Chesterfield thug punched man then careered car into police crash scene

Troubled youth Bradley Beavers, 19, was seen walking up to his victim - known to him from school - outside Chesterfield’s Beach Bar and delivering the blow without speaking.

Later the same night he was heard screeching towards a road closure on Sheffield Road - the scene of an earlier accident - where he smashed into a police car and a lamp post.

Abigail Hill, prosecuting, said the man Beavers punched on June 26 had been involved in a verbal altercation with one of the defendant’s group moments before.

She said: “However this was not the end of his offending that night - just before 1.30am police were called to an RTC (road traffic collission) on Sheffield Road and closed the road either side of the collision.

“A Vauxhall Astra approached moving at speed and a police constable heard the vehicle slam on its brakes and skid.

“The vehicle entered the road closure and mounted the kerb, hitting a police car then collided with a post.”

The court heard unlicensed and uninsured Beavers was pulled out of the car and breathalysed and found to be nearly twice over the alcohol limit.

It also emerged the car he was driving belonged to a friend and he had taken it without his permission.

He was arrested for drink driving, during which time a kitchen knife was discovered in Beavers’ waistband.

Ms Hill said: “En route to custody he informed officers he had ‘another shank’ on him.”

However during a strip search a struggle ensued and Beavers kicked a officer in the chest.

The defendant also refused to give a breath sample while in custody.

The court heard Beavers was serving post-custodial supervision at the time of the incidents.

Beavers had five previous court appearances for 16 offences including battery, common assault, assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and interfering with a vehicle.

His barrister Lesley Pidcock said Beavers had a “difficult upbringing” and had “fended for himself” from the age of 13.

She said he had been subject to “horrible” incidents at the hands of his mother and stepfather an fell in with older people who “drank alcohol to excess”.

She said: “When he drinks he drinks to excess.”

Beavers, of Kedleston Court, Staveley, admitted assault by beating emergency worker, assault by beating, aggravated vehicle taking, no insurance, failing to provide a specimen of breath and possession of a bladed article.

Judge Jonathan Bennett, jailing Beavers for 11 months and handing him a driving ban, said: “I accept you’ve had a difficult background and a bad start in life.

“But custody is inevitable because there were three incidents that night which were aggravated by your previous convictions.”