A 31-year-old Gloucester man who has been convicted of numerous motoring and drug offences while continually breaching court orders has run out of road - he has been jailed for six months.

Ieuan Callaghan, prosecuting at Gloucester Crown Court on Monday (April 17) said that at 3.15pm on September 18, 2022, police in an unmarked vehicle spotted the rider of a motorbike jump a queue of stationary cars at temporary lights on Bruton Way, Gloucester.

The prosecutor said: "The motorcyclist, later identified as Mitchel Cox of Orchard Close, Longford, moved off ahead of the other vehicles in Black Dog Way and was soon driving in excess of 30mph and overtaking other vehicles."

"Cox then drove through a red light on London Road with pedestrians present.

"Another set of officers saw Cox past them at speed on Estcourt Road. They followed in the same direction and came across him a few minutes later after he had crashed and was spotted picking up the motorbike.

"As soon as Cox was spoken to, he admitted he was a disqualified driver and didn't have any insurance. Cox suffered a number of injuries when he crashed the motorbike and he was taken to hospital for treatment.

"Cox provided a negative breath test for alcohol, but a positive swipe for drugs, namely cocaine. However, he has not been charged with that offence."

In his police interview Cox admitted he had not been formally trained on such a big motorbike and was the reason why he had driven through the red light. He also suggested that he had been taking prescription medication.

The court heard that Cox denied being involved in an accident having seen the police car. Cox suggested that the collision occurred due to him hitting the car while overtaking.

Cox pleaded guilty to driving a KTM Duke 2 Motorcycle on Black Dog Way, London Road and Estcourt Road without due care and attention on September 18, 2022, driving whilst on disqualified on the same date and using a vehicle without valid third-party insurance. He accepted that he was in breach of a suspended prison sentence order for similar offences.

Cox was sentenced to a prison term of 13 months, suspended for two years in November last year after being convicted of admitted driving while under the influence of cocaine and cannabis on April 19, 2021 and driving dangerously along Tewkesbury Road, Gloucester in a Jeep Cherokee on the same date. He also pleaded guilty to driving an Audi A3 on the A40 Golden Valley, while under the influence of cannabis on May 18, 2021.

Lloyd Jenkins, defending said: "Clearly Cox is running out of chances. He needs to be sentenced for a raft of drug and motoring offences.

"He has previously been given the benefit of doubt on many previous occasions, but I feel he has run out of road. These offences were committed before he received the suspended prison sentence, but the charges had not caught up with the other offences so they could all be sentenced together.

"My job however is to persuade the court that activating the suspended sentence would be unjust to do so. Cox is cooperating fully with probation. He admits he made a poor decision to ride the motorbike and lost control of it six minutes later.

"In June last year he was a passenger in a car that was involved in a serious road traffic collision leaving him with a broken pelvis and was in a coma for 13 days.

"You would have thought that within weeks of this accident he wouldn't want to ride such a big motorbike, but he did.

"Cox regrets what he did and fully admits he acted foolishly. I still be believe he can be managed in the community."

Judge Rupert Lowe told Cox: "You are before me to be sentenced for a number of motoring and drug offences, which are normally dealt with at the magistrates court, but are before the crown court because of your continual offending.

"Your criminal history has a theme to it where you are given chances by the courts, but you chose to ignore these court orders. Last year you were suspended 13-month prison sentence for dangerous driving and driving under the influence of drugs. You were breached on this order for not complying with probation. There is a pattern developing here.

"The court tells you to do things, but you don't do them. You probably think that the court never deals with you harshly, anyway, so why should you bother.

"You then failed to surrender to this court. And this is where we get to your current set of offences. But despite the fact that you've taken cocaine and that you're are on suspended sentence order, you chose to ride a powerful motorbike, which you were not insured and drove without due care and attention by jumping a red light and crashing.

"I have no choice but to activate part of the suspended sentence and impose a custodial term for the current offences."

The judge sentenced Cox to a prison term of six months and imposed a driving ban of 21 months from the date he is released from prison.

Judge Lowe concluded: "You must comply with court orders in future."