An e-bike rider whose goading of a police officer led to him quitting the service after 22 years has been locked up following another police chase, this time in a car.
Mason McGarry, 19, has been handed a 12-month sentence in a young offenders institute after he drove at 60mph in a 40mph zone before mounting the pavement and hitting a lorry while being pursued by police.
The teenager has 42 previous convictions for robbery, theft, burglary, dangerous driving, driving without insurance and assault of an emergency worker, a court heard.
In 2022 he was knocked off his scooter during a police chase, which led to the officer involved being hauled before a court only to be cleared by a jury.
PC Tim Bradshaw of Sussex police was acquitted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after pursuing McGarry and friend Dominic Mizzi during an incident in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.
McGarry and Mizzi, 22, who was riding pillion on the bike, had made offensive gestures towards the officer before speeding off, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
Mizzi also had numerous convictions, including for assaulting emergency workers.
Bradshaw said he ‘nudged’ the back wheel of the e-bike with his bumper, causing McGarry and Mizzi to fall to the ground.
Mason McGarry outside Portsmouth Crown Court in February this year after PC Tim Bradshaw was acquitted of dangerous driving
This is the moment McGarry and his friend were knocked off their e bike during a chase
PC Timothy Bradshaw outside Portsmouth Crown Court, Hampshire, in February this year. The officer now works as a bus driver
McGarry, who was top of a list of balaclava-wearing offenders who terrorised officers, underwent surgery for a broken tibia and said Bradshaw did not give any warning.
During his trial, Bradshaw said police officers were involved in regular pursuits with electric motorbikes but were unable to apprehend the riders because of their ability to slip down alleyways and closed roads.
He said his use of the ‘tactical contact’ manoeuvre had been authorised by his superiors and he was permitted to use ‘reasonable force’.
He told the court: ‘It was light contact … there was not a blemish on my police car. I believed it was a justified, necessary action.’
Jurors took just over an hour to unanimously return a not guilty verdict for causing serious injury by dangerous driving in what judge David Melville KC referred to as an ‘important case’.
It was just a month after the court case that McGarry was caught driving dangerously again.
Prosecutor Gary Venturi told Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants on Friday, that the crime took place on March 28 this year when McGarry borrowed a Vauxhall Insignia from a friend, who then called the police after he didn’t return it by the time he promised to do so.
The teenager was in the car with his sister and two other people as passengers.
PC Tim Bradshaw of Sussex police was acquitted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after pursuing McGarry and friend Dominic Mizzi (pictured) during an incident in Bognor Regis, West Sussex
A jury previously heard the officer and his colleague in a patrol car had been subjected to ‘unpleasant hand gestures’ by Mason McGarry (pictured) and his passenger in the build-up to the incident
The prosecutor said he was pursued by police in Chichester, West Sussex, and at one point he drove ‘as high as 60 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour limit’ before mounting a pavement and hitting a lorry.
Mr Venturi said: ‘He emerges from a T junction and tries to squeeze in by the lorry, mounting the pavement, striking the lorry causing £1,200 of damage.’
The pursuit lasted around five minutes, ending when McGarry arrived at his home nearby.
McGarry pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving whilst disqualified, failing to stop and driving without insurance.
The prosecutor said that McGarry’s list of previous convictions was ‘unenviable’.
He said these included drug possession and trafficking, assault, and two dangerous driving convictions between 2021 and 2023.
Paul Walker, mitigating, said that McGarry has ADHD and a learning disability, describing him as having ‘low emotional awareness’.
Mr Walker admitted that it would have been a ‘gamble’ to release him into the community rather than give him a custodial sentence.
Tim Bradshaw is seen with his commendation at Arundel Castle in 2014. The former police constable was acquitted after being charged with causing injury by dangerous driving
Pictured: Portsmouth Crown Court, where Tim Bradshaw was acquitted in February this year
After seeing footage of the pursuit, Judge Jodie Mittell said ‘frankly it was very lucky that there was nobody walking along the pavement’.
Referencing his previous convictions relating to dangerous driving, Judge Mittell said: ‘The concern I obviously have is that the fifth time he will kill someone. ‘That could be his sister.’
Sentencing McGarry on Friday, the judge said: There’s a risk not only to you, that you would get injured, but that people you care about, who were in the car, might also be injured.’
After reading McGarry his sentence, Mittell added: ‘The last thing any of us want to see is you being back here, having killed somebody.’
During a voluntary interview with police ahead of his trial, PC Bradshaw said McGarry was a ‘feral’ teenager and someone who ‘just doesn’t get it, just doesn’t stop’.
Jurors heard PC Bradshaw and the teenager were ‘well known’ to one another, with the pair first interacting when McGarry was 12.
Last month, Mr Bradshaw told how he came face to face with McGarry, who ‘goaded’ him about the court case.
Mr Bradshaw said: ‘He looked at me all cocky and arrogant, telling everyone on board that I’d knocked him down but that he had taken my job.
‘He threatened my family. Then he took a big spliff out of his mouth and blew smoke in my face. I said, ‘Go away Mason and take your cannabis with you’. Then he lunged at me. He was joined by his mate in a balaclava who was threatening to stab another bus driver. Of course no action was taken against them.
Mr Bradshaw has called for police chiefs to take more action to tackle ‘the huge problem that illegal e-bikes are causing all over our country’.
He said: ‘Officers are always looking over their shoulders … it makes them reluctant to think on their feet and be hands-on. If we don’t grasp this reality then the unscrupulous criminals causing chaos will keep running rings around us.’
