Stolen vehicle in high-speed home crash

A MAN sent a stolen pickup truck soaring over a grass verge and 8ft into the air before it crashed into a house.

- BY ADAM EVERETT

James Fitzpatrick was clocked at speeds of up to 70mph in a 20mph zone as he led police on a high-speed chase through the streets.

After an almost inevitable crash, he admitted to officers that he had “nearly crashed a million times” and confessed he “could have killed himself”; also claiming that he had never driven before.

This incident happened just months after he trespassed onto railway tracks while under the influence of drugs and fell asleep next to a train, becoming “irate” when eventually woken up.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that British Transport Police were called to Maghull North Station on May 15 this year following reports that Fitzpatrick, of Newsham Drive in Tuebrook, Liverpool, was “acting erratically” and trying to lie down on the electrified tracks. Officers discovered him beneath a railway bridge next to a stationary train.

Prosecutor Paul Blasbery detailed how the 35-year-old was found unconscious lying on his back and only woke up when shaken by police officers. At this point, he “became immediately irate” and “verbally abusive’, and was unable to stand without support.

Fitzpatrick then “resisted and refused to leave the tracks” when he was escorted towards the platform, stating that he “didn’t want to harm himself” and had taken a cocktail of MDMA and ketamine.

After being taken to Copy Lane Police Station, he was discovered to be carrying numerous bank cards, a Costco card and a Tesco Clubcard which had previously been stolen from an InPost delivery driver’s van while he was parked outside the company’s depot in Warrington.