A “habitual offender” was in NSW for only a week before leading police on a wild pursuit on the M1 that ended when he was dragged out of scrubland, a court has heard.
Appearing via video link William Landsborough, of Southport, faced Gosford Local Court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to failing to stop during a police pursuit, possessing a restricted drug, resisting arrest and driving while disqualified.
An agreed set of facts states the 38-year-old was wanted by Queensland Police on four warrants when NSW Police patrolling Mount White saw two men sitting in a white VW Golf GTI in a car park off Morgans Rd on May 11 at 11.40pm.
Police pulled into the car park when Landsborough started the Golf and began driving towards the M1 freeway.
Police activated their warning lights when they saw the front passenger jump from the moving car.
Landsborough and another man were seen sitting in a white VW Golf GTI similar to this one.
The facts state Landsborough entered the freeway and hit speeds of 180kmh in the 110kmh zone before being forced to slow down when he approached heavy traffic.
Landsborough entered the break down lane and continued for about 200m passing a number of cars — including marked police cars — before continuing south on the freeway reaching speeds of 120kmh.
Landsborough was later seen running into dense bush (left of image) near the Spike Milligan Bridge.
Police called off the pursuit because of safety concerns before Landsborough was again seen exiting the freeway onto Kangoo Rd at Kariong, where he came to a stop and opened his door.
However, the facts state he shut the door when he saw police and resumed driving along Debenham Rd towards West Gosford.
Police lost sight of him again before they saw his tail lights under a rail crossing next to Spike Milligan Bridge and watched as he ran into dense bush.
Police chased him on foot and called for him to come out, but he refused and officers were forced to physically drag him out as he “tensed his arms and locked them under his body”.
Police arrested Landsborough and found a strip of buprenorphine as well as a large sum of Australian currency in his bum bag.
Buprenorphine can come in tablets or a strip form. Landsborough pleaded guilty to having a strip of it without a script. (File image)
Landsborough was taken to Gosford Police Station, where he declined to be interviewed.
He did tell officers he was on the methadone program in Queensland, but was unable to produce a script.
“The accused is a habitual offender and deserves a custodial sentence,” the agreed facts state.
Landsborough’s 11-page Queensland criminal record was tendered to the court and featured dozens of convictions dating back to 2004 for a range of offending including being drunk and disorderly, through to firearm and drug possession, destroying property and stealing.
His case was adjourned for him to undergo a pre-sentence assessment report before returning to court on July 6 for sentence.
Landsborough did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.