A getaway driver from Bolton left a woman with serious injuries after a crash following a high speed police chase. On January 22 this year, a woman had her Ford car stolen and it was not seen again until February 12, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Justin Hayhoe said the car was spotted on South Royd Street in Tottington by CCTV footage of a house , which a woman, who was not present at the property, owned.
She received a notification on her phone that the cameras had been activated due to movement at around 6pm. When she checked the footage, she saw two masked men in her back garden trying to break into her property . Mr Hayhoe said Craig Brightwell, 46, of Dunstan Street, Bolton, was in the Ford outside the house acting as the getaway driver.
The woman phoned the police who discovered the kitchen window smashed but nothing had been stolen. Officers saw the Ford and the car sped off with the three men inside and was being “driven erratically and in a dangerous manner”. The Ford crashed with a car when it mounted the kerb in Walshaw and it was spotted on Booth Street travelling at 50mph before it collided with a second vehicle.
Brightwell turned off the headlights off and drove on High Street at 80mph and run a red light on Cockey Moor Road at 90mph. On Bury Old Road, Brightwell was still driving at 90mph and lost control of the car, crashing with a Suzuki, which was being driven by a woman. She suffered serious injuries and was taken to Salford R.