A WOMAN who led police on a high-speed chase through Llandudno after taking cocaine has been jailed.

Emma Clarke, 39, of Woodman Road, Halesowen, was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment at Mold Crown Court today (August 31).

She previously pleaded guilty to charges of class A drug possession, failing to stop after a road accident, driving dangerously, and failing to provide a blood sample for analysis.

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Prosecuting, Elen Owen told the court that, late on November 14, 2022, police received reports that Clarke had reversed into the driveway of an elderly resident’s home at Vicarage Gardens, and was behaving suspiciously.

Officers found Clarke in the driveway, sat in the driver’s seat of a black Audi vehicle and appearing to pretending to be asleep, at about 11.45pm that night.

When asked to get out of the vehicle, Clarke refused, so an officer then tried to take the car keys off her through a slightly open window.

Clarke tried driving off with the officer’s arm still in the car, and narrowly missed a second officer as she passed, who struck at the windscreen with a baton in an attempt to stop her.

She then drove over other resident’s garden as she headed in the direction of Llandudno Junction, with two police vehicles giving chase.

Body-worn footage of the chase, played in court, showed a police vehicle driving up to 97mph in an attempt to catch up to her.

Officers took Clarke out of her vehicle and arrested her after she drove into a dead end, also discovering a small amount of cocaine upon her person.

A roadside drugs test also returned a positive result for cocaine, though Clarke refused to provide a sample of her blood for analysis.

When interviewed, she denied any wrongdoing, said the cocaine was not hers, and that she drove off because she “didn’t feel safe”.

Clarke had no previous convictions at the time of the incident, Ms Owen said.

Though, she has since been convicted of another drug-driving offence and failing to surrender to bail, for which she received at two-year ban from the roads last month.

Defending, Simon Mintz conceded that the footage played in court of the incident was “shocking” and “does not do Ms Clarke any favours”.

But the fact that the incident was late, meant the “roads were tranquil”, and that there was “no interaction with any other road users” and “no close shaves”.

“Otherwise, her predicament would have been even worse than it is now,” Mr Mintz said.

Despite this, Mr Mintz deemed Clarke to have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

Clarke was a lead nurse at a healthcare provider, which is “now lost”, as her accommodation may also be.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman labelled Clarke’s claims that the cocaine was not hers and that she “didn’t feel safe” as “utter nonsense”.

The cocaine seized was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed, while Clarke will pay a statutory surcharge.

Judge Saffman told Clarke: “While I accept that it was late at night and there was nobody around, this, of course, was a potential danger to the public.

“You could have caused serious injury to the officers, in addition to the danger of the lengthy police pursuit.

“You’ve continued to minimise your actions, in effect by putting some of the blame on police. You placed those officers at substantial risk of significant harm.”