Sophia Dillon, the driver, was headed to Manchester Airport before she ‘nearly killed herself’

A waitress has escaped jail after her two-year-old son was found in the back of her BMW following a 121mph police pursuit on the M60 motorway in Greater Manchester. A deputy district judge who sentenced Sophia Dillon after viewing dashcam footage of her 'appalling' driving said she 'nearly killed herself'. Dillon, 20, who wasn't insured to drive the car and only had a provisional licence, swerved in and out of other vehicles and nearly lost control behind an HGV, a court heard.

The boy was found sat in a booster seat in the back of the car with no seatbelt on after the BMW was eventually stopped, the prosecution said. The judge, however, accepted it could not be proved the child was in the car at the time of the pursuit. During the seven minute-long chase, Dillon weaved in and out of traffic, undertook on the hard shoulder and drove over a rumble strip on the motorway.

Warrington magistrates' court heard she managed to lose the officer in pursuit after coming off a stretch of the eastbound M60[1] near Manchester and jumping red lights. The car was located by another officer 10 minutes later and stopped. When quizzed, Dillon said she had been in a 'panic' after picking up family passports in Liverpool before driving to Manchester Airport[2] ahead of a family holiday.

She insisted her son was not in the car at the time she was being tailed by police and said she had stopped to collect him during the period officers had lost sight of her. Dillon admitted dangerous driving and having no insurance or driving licence and was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

Sentencing, Deputy District Judge John Rowan said: "I suspect that the child was in the car and if I was sure of that, I would be locking her up. However, I can't be sure.

Only she knows if the child was in the car. If the child was in the car, I hope that she has sleepless nights about it.'" He went on to tell Dillon, from Everton, Liverpool: "You were not allowed on the road and police tried to stop you.

We have all seen the footage of that appalling level of driving. It was busy carriageways, you were speeding, swerving in and out of the vehicles. You nearly lost control of the vehicle behind an HGV lorry.

"You have then made off from police through red lights and lost them eventually. "It then turns out at some point, you picked up your two year-old son. I cannot sentence you on the basis of your two year-old son being in the vehicle at the time of the offence, as much as I might suspect it.

However, even if your son was not in that vehicle you put yourself and other road users at risk of serious injury and death." The pursuit began at around 12.25pm on Tuesday, July 2 last year when police attempted to take the BMW off the motorway at junction 11. Sarah McInerney, prosecuting, said: "The CPS cannot say the child was in the vehicle at the time of the offence.

Unbelievably no-one was hurt." Mitigating, Dillon's lawyer Brian Jackson said there was 'no admissible evidence that the child was in the car at the time of the driving'. "This situation arises out of panic from a difficult day that she was having and the expectation that the child and father would be at Manchester Airport late that afternoon," he said.

''She is clearly traumatised by the whole situation. She has never been in trouble with the police and ad never been in a police station. Ever since I have seen her she has been polite and upset about the situation she has found herself in.

She ended up panicking after her boyfriend was called at short notice for a medical appointment before she went off to Liverpool to pick up passports to take back to family and then go off to Manchester Airport."

Dillon was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.

References

1. ^ M60 (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
2. ^ Manchester Airport (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)