Wairoa Bridge jumper jailed for five months and loses licence until 2021

Fleeing driver Bonn Glenn Taylor jumped out of a flaming car and into the Wairoa River after a police chase. Photo/File

The driver at the centre of a dramatic police chase which ended with him jumping out of a burning car and off the Wairoa Bridge into the river has been jailed for five months.

Bonn Glenn Taylor, 34, who appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday by audio-visual link from prison, also had his driving licence revoked until February 20, 2021.

Taylor earlier pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including two each of failing to stop for police and reckless driving, and one each of driving while suspended, dangerous driving and theft relating to a petrol station drive off.

His jail sentence also included time for unlawfully being found in an enclosed yard, unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle and two breaches of release conditions.

The offences were committed between February 24 and March 12 this year.

The dramatic police pursuit happened on March 12, after Taylor was spotted driving in Waihi township and began overtaking other vehicles on double yellow lines.

Police abandoned the pursuit due to the risk to the public.

Less than an hour later, Taylor was spotted driving towards Katikati, and again overtaking several vehicles on double yellow lines as he fled.

Police laid road spikes on State Highway 2, but Taylor reversed and drove back along the highway reaching speeds of up to 100km/h, and police had to jump out the way.

Despite Taylor driving over the spikes on Barrett Rd, he continued with bits of rubber coming from the smoking car, which was down to its rims.

Fleeing driver Bonn Glenn Taylor, 34, jumped out of a flaming car from the Wairoa Bridge into the river following a police chase. Photo/File

Taylor finally stopped on Wairoa Bridge, and jumped into the river after the car caught fire and swam out into the middle, before swimming back to shore.

Taylor's lawyer Coby Martell handed up a letter of apology from her client to Judge Thomas Ingram about the harm he had caused.

Martell said while on remand Taylor had reconnected with his children and realised that to be a "positive role model" to them he needed to make some significant changes in his life.

He was determined to remain abstinent from drugs and make the most of his chance to attend a full-time residential treatment programme in early October, she said.

Judge Ingram told Taylor nothing other than a relatively short prison sentence was appropriate for these " appalling incidents" which had put the community at risk.

However, the judge said he was prepared to give Taylor the chance to go straight from prison to a full-time residential treatment programme on October 2.

Judge Ingram told Taylor that unless he addressed his methamphetamine addiction and "got his act together" he was only likely to re-offend and find himself back behind bars.