Darren Coffey, 41, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he took the £385,000 bulldozer and went on a wrecking spree across Wolverhampton in November last year
A disgruntled garage customer who stole a 24 tonne bulldozer before going on a wrecking spree across a city following a dispute over his car has been jailed for 18 months.
Darren Coffey, 41, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he took the £385,000 Caterpillar rolling machine from his employer on November 8 last year. He then went on a rampage for nearly three hours across Wolverhampton – causing chaos as well as at least £8,000 worth of damage between 5.30pm and 8.15pm.
A court heard Coffey’s dangerous driving only came to an end after smashing into a Royal Mail lorry, which had been commandeered by police to block the road. Coffey, of Wolverhampton, admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving a motor vehicle without a licence or insurance, threat to damage or destroy property, two counts of criminal damage, drink driving and aggravated vehicle taking and vehicle damage.
He sobbed in the dock as he was jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday. The court hear Coffey had been in dispute with Willenhall Autos over a vehicle he owned and had threatened to burn it down and “smash it up”.
After stealing the hired bulldozer from the Staffordshire border he called police saying he was “heading there with two petrol cans”. He took the DC6 machine along the A454 including Wolverhampton’s ring road, Willenhall Road and New Road in Willenhall town centre where the incident finally came to a end after almost three hours.
Sentencing, Judge David Perry said a jail sentence was “unavoidable” and added: “He caused untold chaos to road users. He reversed into oncoming traffic, and at one stage reversed into police cars – and on the wrong side of the carriageway.
“Following authorisation by the assistant chief constable a decision was made to block the path of the bulldozer with a HGV. To this end a Royal Mail trailer was commandeered. He used the bulldozer to push the trailer out of the way resulting in £2,508 worth of repairs to it.
“The machine itself needed £680 worth of repairs for damaged parts and the overall cost of the damage cause was just over £8,000. He was under the influence of drink and drugs at the time and the incident last from 5.50pm-8.15pm. I have seen the video footage.
“I have taken into account all that has been said and what the reports said about your prospect of rehabilitation. Set against that, you represent a risk and because of the seriousness of the risk the only means of punishment is immediate custody.
“I am going to have to send you to prison today. I know there will be an impact on your mental health and the consequences, but I do not think there is an alternative here. The offence is so serious that only custody can be justified. The least sentence I can impose is 18 months in prison.”
The court heard that the father-of-four had a history of cocaine and cannabis abuse along previous convictions for drink driving, criminal damage and motoring offences, but had not been in trouble since 2015.
Ryan Hodgins, defending, said he had a history of post traumatic stress disorder and had sought help for his drug issues. He asked the judge to suspend the sentence which was denied.
Coffey, who relocated to the UK from Ireland 17 years ago, was jailed for a total of 18 months. He must serve at least 40 per cent of the term before being released on licence when he will be subject to supervision for 12 months. He was banned from the road for an extended three years and nine months, and must take an extended test before returning behind the wheel.
