Lloyd Pope rode his motorbike away from cops at more than 240km/h on Warringah Freeway
A man who rode his motorbike away from chasing cops at more than 240km/h because he had a fight with his girlfriend has been sentenced in Manly Local Court.
Manly
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A Pommy plumber, who doesn’t even have a NSW driver’s licence, hit speeds of more than 240km/h on his high-powered motorbike while being chased by police on Australia Day, a court heard today.
Lloyd Pope, 31, of Centennial Park, later told cops that he was out for an early morning ride on his black Suzuki GSXR 750 because he was upset after an argument with his girlfriend the night before.
Manly Local Court heard on Wednesday that Pope had reached a speed on his Suzuki equivalent to that needed for a jet airliner to take off.
Highway Patrol police clocked Pope, who was riding on his UK licence, on their speed radar going at 137km/h as he headed north on the Warringah Freeway, just north of the Harbour Bridge, at 6.05am on January 26 this year.
During a subsequent pursuit, they estimated his speed reached in excess of 240 km/h on the Gore Hill Freeway — three times over the speed limit — just south of the Lane Cove Tunnel.
The court was told that Pope was going so fast that police terminated the chase after 34 seconds due to its potential danger to the public.
In a facts sheet tendered to court, police said they arrested him at his eastern suburbs home on March 22 after identifying the motorbike from CCTV cameras.
Pope, who has been in Australia since 2015 on a Provisional Partner Visa, told officers then: “I had my headphones in, I was crying”.
But the police said that when they activated the patrol car’s lights and sirens in an effort to pull Pope over near the Miller St overpass, they saw him look at them over his left shoulder and in his mirrors before “accelerating harshly way”.
“While accelerating (Pope) leaned significantly to the left and cut across traffic,” police said.
“While attempting to evade police (Pope) drove between several other vehicles in a thread the needle manner.
“The police vehicle reached a speed of 228km/h and the motorcycle was still pulling away.”
Pope pleaded guilty to one count of police pursuit (not stop) drive at speed and one count of exceed speed greater than 45km/h.
His lawyer told the court that on the morning of the pursuit Pope was emotional after the argument with his partner and was “not thinking straight” and panicked when police approached him.
Now Pope has been taken off the road by the court for two years and placed on a seven-month Intensive Corrections Order.
Magistrate Scott Nash also fined him a total of $3000 and ordered him to complete 150 hours of community service.
“Whatever personal situation you were in on that night doesn’t justify what you did,” Mr Nash told Pope.
When told that a jet plane needs to reach a speed of at least 240km/h to take off, the Magistrate said: “It’s a wonder the bike did not become airborne”.