A burglar was high on drink and drugs when he drove off in a stolen high-performance BMW.
Liam Mooney, 25, had burgled two properties in Maghull, disturbing the occupants as they slept.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he stole the keys to the BMW from the second property he burgled, where a woman was alone in the house.
She alerted police to the theft of the BMW, which belonged to her partner.
As Mooney was driving the car the wrong way down a dual carriageway at high speed, he caused one police vehicle travelling in the opposite direction to swerve sharply to avoid a head-on collision.
He then deliberately reversed the BMW into another police car a short time later. He was eventually arrested after running away on foot.
He was found to be in possession of three screwdrivers and a locked craft knife. Items of stolen property from the two burglaries – including a large amount of cash and a laptop – were also recovered.
The court heard that at the first burglary, which took place at a house in Liverpool Road North, Maghull, Mooney had an accomplice. The 60-year-old male householder challenged the offenders from an upstairs window as they were leaving the property after the burglary, and he was verbally threatened by them.
At the second burglary, in Chilton Close, Maghull, Mooney – who earlier had been drinking and using drugs – appeared to be operating alone.
David Evans, defending, said Mooney, of no fixed address had previously been engaged in low-level criminal activities, but the offences of burglary and aggravated vehicle-taking for which he had pleaded guilty represented a “huge step” in seriousness.
Mr Evans said: “He is not proud, this has been a wake-up call. He acknowledges only he is responsible.”
Sentencing Mooney to three years’ imprisonment, Judge Thomas Teague QC said: “These are serious offences which demand custody.”
Mooney was also disqualified from driving for two years.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/