A 100mph biker chased by police over the Queensferry Crossing has been jailed.
Peter Hemsworth, of Oak Street in Kinghorn, was locked up for 12 months at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for his dash from Fife to Edinburgh.
At an earlier trial, he was found guilty of driving dangerously, without insurance and while disqualified, failing to stop for police and failing to identify himself to officers.
Repeatedly banned and jailed for driving offences, Hemsworth, 32, has never had a full driving licence.
He was once told by a judge he had the “worst list of previous convictions” he had ever seen.
100mph
The court heard that on April 28 2022 Hemsworth came to the attention of police as he rode a motorcycle on the M90, the Queensferry Crossing and the A90 between South Queensferry and Barnton in Edinburgh.
He overtook another vehicle in the incorrect lane, while it was alongside another vehicle.
He swerved between lanes, crossed a solid white line chevron area between the A90 and M90 when it was not safe to do so and drove at excessive speed and on a pedestrian footpath.
On the A90 across the bridge from Fife, Hemsworth failed to stop for a uniformed PC.
He hit speeds of 100mph and police had to abort their pursuit for safety’s sake.
He also failed to give information to identity of the rider of the motorcycle, as required by another PC.
‘No alternative’ to prison
Sheriff Susan Duff jailed him for a year and banned him from driving for six years.
She said: “You were convicted of all the charges you faced.
“You drove dangerously while you were disqualified.
“Your driving was at the high end of dangerous.
“I’m satisfied that there is no alternative other than a custodial sentence.”
Past crimes
Hemsworth was jailed for eight months and disqualified for four years in 2019 after he ignored red lights and drove along a public pavement when he was three times over the drink-drive limit.
On that occasion, he refused to stop for police and then drove dangerously through Dunfermline town centre in a bid to get away after a boozing session in a bar.
In 2022, he crashed in Gillingham, Kent, after taking cocaine.
That offence was the ninth time he had been caught driving while banned and the sixth time he had been convicted of dangerous driving.
In a Seat Leon, he was chased as he travelled at 60mph in a 30mph zone before police stopped their pursuit on safety grounds.
He eventually crashed into a bollard and had to be tasered before he could be caught.
Judge Robert Lazarus told him: “This is the worst list of previous convictions I have ever seen.
“You have shown extraordinary contempt for the law of the road.”
He jailed Hemsworth for 18 months and banned him for five years and nine months.
He had told the court he wanted to train as a motor mechanic.
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