Driver led the police on a dangerous high-speed chase through Rugby with a young baby ‘rattling around’ unsecured in the back of the car

A driver led the police on a dangerous high-speed chase through Rugby with a young baby ‘rattling around’ unsecured in the shell of a child seat in the back of the car.

Despite the obvious risk to the little girl and to two pedestrians who had to jump out of his way, Martin McDonagh denied charges of cruelty to a child and dangerous driving.

But at a pre-trial hearing at Warwick Crown Court he changed his pleas to guilty, and also admitted driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

McDonagh (27) now of New Street, Barnsley, was jailed for 26 months – with a further four months for a later common assault on his wife, to which he previously pleaded guilty.

Prosecutor James Bruce explained that the child cruelty charge was a result of McDonagh exposing the five-month-old baby girl ‘in a manner liable to cause her unnecessary suffering.’

She had been put in the shell of a child seat which had no foam padding in the back of McDonagh’s VW Bora car, where she was unrestrained and sitting on the seat’s straps which were held together with duct tape.

The incident began following a mistaken report on the afternoon of August 2 that a group of people including McDonagh had left a Rugby restaurant without paying and driven away.

Officers responding to the call pulled out of Rugby police station car park, turning right into Newbold Road which at that time was down to a single lane because of roadworks.

Coming towards them they saw the suspect cars, a VW Touran with the Bora behind it, so put on their blue lights and indicated for them to stop.

But instead both cars mounted the pavement to get past the police car and sped away towards the town’s gyratory system.

The officers turned to pursue them as McDonagh swerved between other traffic as he sped along Corporation Street and then went through a red light at the junction with Warwick Street.

He then veered into St Matthew Street, forcing two pedestrian who were crossing the road to jump back to avoid being hit, before having to stop because it was a dead end.

As the officers pulled up behind the Bora they could see McDonagh desperately trying to swap seats with his passenger in a bid to avoid responsibility for the driving.

Mr Bruce conceded it was ‘not the worst driving of its kind,’ but remarked: “All of this takes place with the child rattling around in the back, exposing the child to risk of harm by not having her secured and then embarking on a police chase.

“There was a disregard for the welfare of the child who had no protection whatsoever, so there was a high likelihood of harm being caused.”

While on bail for those matters, McDonagh attended a family funeral in Sheffield and, in breach of a curfew he was subject to as a condition of his bail, he then went to the wake.

He began to argue with his wife in the lobby of a hotel where they had been planning to stay, and knocked her to the floor where he hit her, stamped on her body and dragged her around.

Paul Dhami, defending, said: “I accept there was a disregard for the welfare of that child in the rear of the car, but it was for a relatively short time and there was no injury.”

Judge Barry Berlin interjected: “The dangerous driving was a deliberate disregard for the welfare of the child. This child could have been facing very serious injury or death.”

Mr Dhami said: “It is accepted by Mr McDonagh that had there been an accident the potential for injury was present. The two charges overlap, and the driving was for a relatively short distance lasting a couple of minutes.

“He is horrified at his behaviour on both occasions he falls to be sentenced for.”

Jailing McDonagh and banning him from driving for four years and three months, Judge Berlin described his driving and told him: “Officers had to force you out of the car to arrest you.

“An officer then went and looked in the back and saw a young baby, four to six months old, in a child seat sitting on top of the belts, and the seat was not secured to the car. The state of the seat was truly horrendous.

“That child could well have been killed or seriously injured as a result of your appalling driving. This was a deliberate disregard for the welfare of the child who was bouncing around in the rear without any restraint.”