A DRIVER who took three young women on a “petrifying” 120mph police chase in a sports car has been jailed for two years.
Paul Whytock met the trio in Edinburgh, where they had been drinking, and offered to take them to a party in the city, a court heard.
But the revellers were unaware that the 28-year-old who picked them up had a history of being involved in police chases.
When they stepped into his silver Audi TT, Whytock started speeding.
And when police tried to pull him over, Whytock told the screaming woman: “Don’t worry, I can outrun them”, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told.
He then went on to run red lights as he tried to escape police cars that were chasing him.
At one stage he even drove the wrong way down a slip road and onto the Edinburgh bypass in the way of oncoming traffic, the court heard.
Whytock admitted driving dangerously while under the influence of drugs or alcohol on the Western Approach Road and other roads in Edinburgh, including the A720 bypass.
During the incident on February 27 this year he overtook a bus on a bend, and continued to drive whilst being pursued by the police even though they had activated their sirens and repeatedly failed to stop at traffic lights.
He also admitted driving the wrong way up a slip road onto the bypass into the face of oncoming traffic.
Whytock managed to reach speeds of up to 120mph in 70mph zones and 70mph in 40mph areas, the court heard.
Fiscal depute Gerard Drugan told the court that Whytock was first spotted speeding at around 9pm.
Mr Drugan said that at around 9.26pm, after the high speed police chase, he dropped the woman off in a layby on the bypass and took off again in the Audi.
Later a police officer spotted his car had been abandoned near the Gogar roundabout and investigated.
He was caught by this officer at around 9.45pm after he made a bid to escape back into Edinburgh along a nearby railway track, said the fiscal.
Mr Drugan said that one of the girls, a 28-year-old, recounted the horrific ordeal. He said: “I remember we were driving around the west side of the town. We all kept telling him to slow down. He ignored us. I was petrified. I remember I shouted stop at the red light, but he just went straight through. I thought his driving was outrageous and I have never seen anything like this before.
“I also remember him saying that the police were behind us. He said ‘Don’t worry, I can outrun them’. At some point at this time someone shouted ‘you’re going to kill us’. But he just kept going. It was like he was in his own wee world and was getting a thrill out of it. He didn’t care what was happening to us.”
Defence agent Peter Winning said Whytock had previously been jailed for a similar offence. Mr Winning said it was an “outrageous piece of driving”.
Sheriff Mhairi Stephen said: “This was the most appalling course of driving. It was completely fortuitous that on that evening nobody came to grief. It’s almost a miracle that was the case. These three ladies unfortunately accepted an invitation to go to this party and instead were led on this terrifying journey.”
Whytock interrupted the sheriff to shout: “They shouldn’t have got in a car with a drunk person!”
She banned Whytock from driving for 20 years and jailed him for two years for the offence.
In 2010 Whytock was jailed for six months and disqualified from driving for five years after he was involved in a car chase through the streets of Leith at speeds of more than 60mph.
The chase ended after Whytock, who was driving a transit van, crashed into a stationary police car.
In February 2009, Whytock was fined £160 for breach of the peace following a brawl outside an Edinburgh Casino.
His co-accused Ex-Hibs winger Filipe Morais admitted assault.
