Skip to main content

Grave crime

A British man was sent to prison for four years after being stopped by police while he was in the process of stealing a JCB telehandler. In his attempts to elude following police, the man veered wildly along narrow roads with no thought for other road users. He then drove the telehandler through a graveyard, smashing headstones and damaging graves in his escape bid. This proved fruitless however as a police helicopter had joined the pursuit and was able to direct police cars towards the speeding JCB. The ma
February 28, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A British man was sent to prison for four years after being stopped by police while he was in the process of stealing a 255 JCB telehandler. In his attempts to elude following police, the man veered wildly along narrow roads with no thought for other road users. He then drove the telehandler through a graveyard, smashing headstones and damaging graves in his escape bid. This proved fruitless however as a police helicopter had joined the pursuit and was able to direct police cars towards the speeding JCB. The man was forced to stop by a flat tyre, which was caused by damage accrued during his destructive rampage through the graveyard. He had attempted to steal the telehandler to order for criminals. In court this, and a series of 16 other vehicle theft offences, were taken into account in his sentencing.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Dented pride
    June 13, 2012
    An Australian man has had to make a somewhat embarrassing apology to his father after crashing a treasured classic racing car. The man was competing in a car rally in Tasmania, taking over racing the Ford Capri after his father injured his back earlier in the competition. The father had warned his son neither to come second, nor to crash the car. However, one corner proved too much for the man’s ability and he lost control of the car as he roared around the bend at some 130km/h. The car left the road, flew
  • Rogue repairs
    June 5, 2015
    A car owner was rather upset when his vehicle was returned from a garage after servicing. The man checked his dashboard camera only to find footage of the fast Ford Focus being taken out for a high speed drive by a mechanic from the garage. While emulating the stars of the Fast and the Furious films, the Ford Focus was fired ferociously along urban routes. In all the camera recorded seven hours-worth of footage of the mechanic working on the vehicle and using foul language while doing so, as well as driving
  • Vintage crash
    December 13, 2012
    In France a rally driver committed a major sin against French culture when he crashed his car during a race. The driver lost control of the racing car and smashed through a vineyard as he was attempting a rally stage in France’s Alsace region. After ripping its way through the carefully tended vines the car came to a sudden halt when it rammed into a telegraph pole, which collapsed amidst a shower of sparks. The race was halted temporarily until the downed phone lines could be isolated and removed from the
  • India’s road to safety
    September 5, 2012
    India's growth rate is the envy of the world, and its infrastructure is rapidly improving, but its road safety record is the world's worst. Patrick Smith reports on a conference aimed at finding answers to the problems Ambling through the gardens and marble magnificence that is the Taj Mahal or gazing down on the city of Jaipur from the hilltop Jaigarh Fort is far removed from the world outside.