A DANGEROUS driver who was caught trying to evade police driving over pavements and cutting traffic has been jailed.

Aaron Gaughan, 33, was driving at speeds of 50mph in a 20mph zone near Three Fields Way, Oxford, on July 30 last year attempting to prevent his arrest.

However, he was eventually stopped after he crashed into a coffee chain’s drive-through sign and was caught by officers on foot.

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Gaughan, of Kestrel Crescent, Oxford, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (May 2).

During the sentencing, it was heard that Gaughan was disqualified at the time of the offence due to a disqualification enforced by the lower courts in 2022.

However, officers spotted his black Vauxhall Insignia at 6pm that evening and when trying to pull him over, Gaughan made off from police.

The court was shown CCTV footage from the dashcam in the officer's vehicle.

It showed Gaughan driving across pavements, overtaking vehicles from both sides, going the wrong way around a traffic island and exceeding the speed limits.

After the police vehicle bumped into Gaughan a couple of times, his car eventually spun and collided with a Costa Coffee drive-through sign.

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Gaughan attempted to run from the police but was quickly apprehended.

It was discovered he had also been drug driving during the offence.

The court heard that the grounds worker has previous convictions but they date back to his youth, with the last offence being in 2015.

Commenting before the mitigation, Judge Ian Pringle said: “This is a shame because though he had a wild time when he was young, he seems to put it behind him.”

Defending him, his barrister explained to the court that Gaughan had discovered prior to the incident that his mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer which caused him to ‘revert to the misuse of cocaine’.

“There’s no rhyme or reason for it,” he said.

Sentencing Gaughan, Judge Pringle said: “You’ve had a difficult childhood. Your last conviction was nine years ago.

“You’ve managed to stay out of trouble with one exception, you were disqualified in 2022.”

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He was handed 14 months for one count of dangerous driving and then concurrent counts of two months each for two counts of drug driving and four months for driving while disqualified.

Gaughan was also disqualified from driving again for three years and seven months and will need to take an extended retest before he can drive again.

He will serve half of his sentence before being released on licence.