A woman jailed for driving at police during a high-speed chase was let out of prison by the appeal court and smashed six cars during a wrecking spree the day after she was freed.
Katie Reid, who has never passed a driving test, was sent to prison for six months on October 2 and disqualified from driving for three years.
Reid, who narrowly missed driving head-on into a chasing police car as they chased her across a field, lodged an appeal against her prison sentence. Perth Sheriff Court was told judges at the Appeal Court let Reid out on bail on October 11, and within a few hours she was back behind the wheel of a car and causing city centre chaos.
Reid was driving a brand new £30,000 MG HS Trophy Auto when she crashed into another driver before striking four more parked cars and causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage. She initially crashed into a £40,000 Citroen Relay van before hitting a stationary Volvo V40 Cross Country, a Fiat Panda Active, a Volvo C30 and a Rover Maestro.
Reid, whose bail was rescinded after that arrest, appeared from custody to admit her latest bout of dangerous driving in Perth on October 12. The court heard Reid carried on driving after dam-aging the six cars, including down the wrong side of the road, before crashing into a garden.
Sheriff Neil Kinnear banned her on an interim basis and deferred sentence for reports and restriction of liberty assessment. On October 2, the same court heard Reid raced through roadworks at more than twice the speed limit and drove at over 90 miles per hour with police chasing her.
Reid, 34, who had two males in the car, claimed she was racing to a hospital with a septic finger when she bolted.
Sheriff William Wood said: “What is difficult for the court is to get away from the appalling nature of this conduct. You were driving in a manner which falls well below what is acceptable, safe and reasonably expected of a careful and safe driver. It was nothing more than an attempt to evade detection by police.”
Reid’s solicitor told the court her conduct was “ appalling ” and she had been “responsible for a terrible example of very bad driving.” Reid, from Perth, admitted driving dangerously and without insurance on July 29 this year.
She also admitted failing to give a specimen of breath when she was stopped. Prosecutor Elizabeth Hodgson said Reid was driving the VW Golf along the A90 at almost three times the speed limit at 9pm.
She undertook an unmarked police car at speed. Ms Hodgson said there were roadworks and the speed limit had been restricted to 30mph in places, but Reid continued to drive at upwards of 80mph.
Police began to follow the vehicle with sirens and lights activated but Reid ignored them, drove through a red light and almost collided with other vehicles.
Her car got stuck in a contraflow behind an HGV, so she took a short cut along the Invergowrie slip road, before returning to the A90 and accelerating to 90mph. As she approached Longforgan, Reid moved into the left hand lane and began to slow, as if to give the impression she would end the chase.
One of the police officers got out of the pursuit vehicle to speak to her, but Reid quickly reversed to avoid him, before heading off at speed again. The chase continued into Orchard Way, where Reid’s car took a sharp right-hand bend before travelling down the wrong side of Kingswell Road.
“The pursuit led into a dead end,” the prosecutor said. “The accused car entered a field through an open gate.” Reid was fined £450 in August and banned from driving for a year after she admitted driving with cocaine in her system in Perth on February 26 last year.
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