'Controlling' thug crashed motorbike while speeding from police

James Rogers, 24, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via video link from HMP Altcourse on Thursday afternoon to be sentenced.

The court heard that at around 5.15pm on Monday, September 25 last year police patrols on Park Road in St Helens who had responded to an “unrelated incident” came across the defendant who was riding a motorbike into Ashcroft Street.

“They could see the rider was not wearing a crash helmet” but did have a “black and white face covering”, said prosecuting barrister Christopher Taylor. Rogers then drove off “at speed” from the police.

“It was a busy time with traffic and pedestrians on both sides of the pavements, there were families with small children” including with “pushchairs” in the area.

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Rogers “continued to speed along into Parr Stocks Road and rode the bike with no consideration for other road users  at speeds posing a clear obvious danger to the public.”

Mr Taylor said as the pursuing officers negotiated a bend Rogers’ “rear tyre was losing grip” and he “appeared unable to control his vehicle”.

The court heard the defendant “rode towards” the pavement” and went “between the pavement and a van”.

Rogers “eventually collided with the front of the van” and officers spotted him with “blood dripping from his left hand” with pain to his “index finger and left shoulder”.

The defendant was “shortly afterwards taken for medical attention”.

Meanwhile, in relation to separate matters, Rogers, formerly of Hurst Park Drive, Huyton, had pleaded guilty to offences of stalking controlling and coercive behaviour, ABH and threatening to disclose a private image.

Rogers had committed these offences earlier in 2023 in Knowsley and Liverpool.

Rogers was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

Rogers 'threatened to disrupt victim's father's funeral'

The court heard that Rogers had threatened his victim with physical violence, and through messages.

On one occasion he attempted to contact the victim more than 100 times in one day via phone.

His offending also included controlling the clothes she was allowed to wear and demanding her not to shave her legs.

He also threatened to make a false report to the RSPCA for "mistreating" her dog and even “threatened to disrupt her father's funeral by spraying mud on (his) motorbike on the funeral hearse”.

The court heard Rogers used physical violence against her and called her “outrageous and abusive names”.

Passing sentence, judge the Recorder Richard Pratt KC said Rogers’ offending demonstrated he “treated (the victim) not as a person but as your property” and “when she tried to do anything on her own” he became “controlling and jealous” and subjected the victim to “threats and humiliation”.

The judge said in relation to the offences against the female victim, he would sentence Rogers for the controlling and coercive behaviour as the lead offence, passing concurrent sentences in relation to the others, increasing the sentence for the lead offence to “reflect the other offending”.

Judge Pratt said that after a trial he would have given Rogers a three-and-a-half-year term, reduced by one-third to 28 months for his early guilty pleas. He passed concurrent terms of 20 months for the stalking, eight months for the ABH and 10 months for the threatening to disclose a private photograph.

Meanwhile, for the “separate” dangerous driving offence in St Helens he handed Rogers a three-month consecutive term, making a total prison sentence of 31 months.

Rogers was disqualified from driving for two years from his release and a 10-year restraining order for the defendant not to contact his victim was imposed.

Defending Rogers, Emily Land said: “This is a defendant who is young - he only turned 24 this week.

"He spent his birthday in prison. He doesn't want to spend any more time there.

She added his behaviour was “completely out of character” and he “doesn’t wish to subject anyone to that behaviour again”.