A half-naked man tried to hide from a police dog in a Bicester primary school – after dumping his car when he failed to shake-off police in a high-speed chase through the town.
Patrick Hoyland had rammed the police cars when officers tried to box him in outside a Barclays Bank in Bicester town centre on December 3 last year.
The ensuing chase saw the 21-year-old push his VW Touareg to 80mph in a 30 zone while the roads were busy with children leaving school. He swerved onto the wrong side of the road and, at one point, a pedestrian was forced to jump out the way of the speeding car.
Hoyland, who at the time was on bail for a burglary committed a year earlier, dumped the car and fled through gardens – stripping off his t-shirt on the way.
He was pursued by police dog Dax and tracked to Southwold Primary School in Holm Way.
Taken to Abingdon police station, he was found to have wraps of cocaine in his sock and stashed up his bottom.
Robert Lindsey, prosecuting, said that a year earlier – on September 14 – Hoyland was part of a group that burgled one property and tried to get into a second house.
Touring Bicester and the surrounding villages in a blue Honda HRV getaway car, they failed to gain entry to a house in Mulberry Drive at around 2.30pm.
But they struck lucky around an hour later in Buchanan Road, Upper Arncott. The burglars, who stole a kitchen knife, were said to have thrown bleach around the house – a well-known tactic used to try and erase DNA evidence.
One witness claimed to have seen the getaway car doing ‘in excess of 100mph’ through the village.
The same Honda was later clocked on false plates in Grantham, Lincolnshire. It rammed a police car before the occupants fled, with Hoyland among those arrested.
A screwdriver found in the vehicle was a match for scratch marks left at the scene in Oxfordshire. Hoyland’s footwear matched prints left in the master bedroom of the burgled property in Upper Arncott.
In mitigation, the defendant was said to have committed the burglaries to help fund his expensive cocaine habit.
He had been in Bicester in December 2021 simply to take his cousin into town. His decision to cut and run was labelled ‘rather foolish’ and indicative of his poor ‘thinking skills’.
Before his remand into custody he was making a ‘bit of a living’ as a window cleaner, the court heard.
Imposing 18 months’ imprisonment suspended for a year and a half, Judge Nigel Daly said: “You are 21. If you had been a bit older then I might not have thought it appropriate to suspend that sentence.
“You have got to get a grip of yourself otherwise you are going to find yourself in prison for longer and longer terms.”
Hoyland, of Oaksview Park, Murcott, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to dangerous driving, possession of cocaine, burglary and attempted burglary. He had 15 previous offences on his record.
As part of his sentence, he must complete a four month curfew, nine month drug rehabilitation programme and was banned from driving for three years. He will have to pass an extended driving test before he can drive again.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
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