Crime
WATCH: Police chase in Cambridge ends with drug dealer caught squatting in a garden
Sokrat Vata picked the picked the wrong city, the wrong police officers to chase him and the wrong court to appear in after a judge at Cambridge Crown described seeing “a parade of misery pass through the court caused by drugs” every week.
Vata was jailed by His Honor Judge Grey described for five years who added that his dismay at dealing with the outcome of drug addiction that leaves a “trail of damage” including “huge proportion of burglaries, robberies, and thefts”.
He went on to say how drug dealing “directly leads to significant amounts of serious violence, particularly knife crime.”
At Cambridge Crown Court on 25 September, Vata, of no fixed address, was sentenced to five years in prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, two counts of dangerous driving, possession of cannabis and drug driving.
It was in Cambridge where it ended.
Cambridgeshire Road Policing Unit was alerted that a stolen grey Toyota RAV4 was being driven in Cambridge on 30 April.
The team began to patrol the city and found the car in Catherine Street.
As officers went to speak to Vata, who was driving the car, he mounted the curb and made off at speed.
The 27-year-old stopped a short while later to let a passenger out before continuing to Clara Rackham Street where he then ran off and threw a bundle of cocaine in a bush.
Vata was found hiding in the back garden of one of the houses.
At Cambridge Crown Court on 25 September, Vata, of no fixed address, was sentenced to five years in prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, two counts of dangerous driving, possession of cannabis and drug driving. Custody photo (above) and the moment he was caught
He had £560 in cash in his pockets and officers found number plates in his car.
He tested positive for drug driving.
In a separate incident in Kent on 13 April, Vata flipped the cloned vehicle he was driving after failing to stop for police on the A20 at East Malling.
Vata wasn’t caught and arrested at the time, but several bags of cocaine and number plates were recovered from the vehicle.
Detective Constable Louise Trippett, who investigated, said: “Vata was determined to do all he could to evade police that day.
“Unfortunately for him, our officers were right behind him all the way and were not prepared to let him get away.
“He now has a lengthy prison sentence for which he can use to consider his actions.”
Footage of the pursuit and his arrest can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZLorvKsE9A
