A joyrider who ploughed a stolen BMW onto the platform of a north-east train station was behind bars last night after he admitted leading police on a high speed chase.
Ricky Forrester led officers through Aberdeen and onto the A90 before speeding thorough Balmedie, Ellon and onto Inverurie where he eventually abandoned the X5.
The 21-year-old, who was disqualified from driving at the time, was one of a number of youths being targeted by police on December 12 as part of a major operation to tackle car crime in the north-east.
A massive amount of police resources, including a helicopter and patrols across Aberdeen city and shire, were drafted in to try to recover stolen vehicles.
These included the blue BMW X5 being driven by Forrester and a blue Audi Q5 2.0 TDi quattro driven by his co-accused Jordan Chesser.
Yesterday Forrester appeared at the city’s sheriff court and admitted driving the car, which had been taken without the owner’s permission, while disqualified and without insurance.
He also admitted driving dangerously by speeding along city and country roads and failing to stop when police tried to pull him over.
Forrester was still being pursued by officers as he failed to give way to other road users before overtaking cars in the face of oncoming traffic, forcing motorists to swerve out of the way to avoid crashing into him.
Once in Inverurie, he drove the car onto the pavements and verges before abandoning it.
The court heard yesterday that Forrester tried to get away with the catalogue of offences by claming the Crown had not served the indictment on him in time.
Advocate Bill Adam asked Sheriff Annella Cowan to find that the charges against him were not competent as a result of the prosecutor’s oversight.
This would have allowed Forrester to walk free from court.
However, the sheriff ruled that there had been no prejudice to Mr Adam’s client given the Crown’s failure was only by two days – and ruled that he should still stand trial.
Immediately after her decision Forrester entered guilty pleas to the charges.
On Wednesday the Press and Journal revealed Chesser, a serial car criminal, had also admitted leading officers on a high speed chase before ploughing the stolen Audi he was driving into a police car.
He drove the wrong way around roundabouts and forced other motorists to swerve out of his way as he tried to outrun the officers pursuing him.
The 17-year-old was only caught when he crashed into a marked police car. The teenager – who boasts about being “the thief of north-east” on social media – was on four bail orders at the time.
The gang member first appeared in court last year and admitted racing a stolen Range Rover Sport around Aberdeen in the company of notorious car thief Liam Smith. Since then, the teenager has admitted committing at least a further 18 offences.
In February, Sheriff William Summers sentenced him to more than two years in a young offenders institution after he admitted committing 14 out of 27 crimes he had been charged with.
At the time, the sheriff said it was lucky that his “appalling” driving had not left someone seriously injured.
Yesterday Sheriff Cowan deferred sentence on both Forrester and Chesser for background reports to be carried out and remanded them in custody until then.
They will appear in court to be sentenced next month.