Driver who pretended to be undercover police officer after crashing his car is jailed

A driver from Kent who pretended to be an undercover police officer after crashing his car whilst under the influence of drugs, has been jailed.

David Saunders, 37, sped through Ashford, narrowly missing a family of six.

He crashed into a wooden fence and then pretended to be a police officer, trying to fool concerned members of the public with a pair of handcuffs he used for TikTok pranks.

Saunders, who appeared at Canterbury Crown Court by videolink on Thursday (13 January) pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, threatening another with a bladed article, impersonating a police officer and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Prosecutor Richard Mandel said: "In the course of that dangerous manoeuvre… he narrowly missed hitting a family consisting of mother and father and four children.

"Mercifully, no-one was hurt."

The court heard, Saunders, from Ashford, got out of his car and started communicating with a member of the public, pretending to be an undercover police officer. He then began waving a knife around, causing many of those gathered to flee the scene.

Police arrived and Saunders was eventually detained after a pursuit.

Defence barrister Sarah Selby said Saunders has expressed genuine remorse for what happened and feels a "deep sense of shame". She told the judge her client has struggled with alcohol dependency but has made huge efforts to improve his life.

Ms Selby also argued that Saunders had not got the knife out of the car in order to make threats, instead doing so to try and stop police finding it. Discussing the handcuffs, she said Saunders had purchased them legally from eBay and used them to film prank videos for TikTok.

Saunders has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and banned from driving for 56 months.