Courts / Dublin / Report

Jail after ramming of patrol car and 200 km/h chase

Summary

John Langfield, 35, was jailed after deliberately reversing his car into a Garda patrol car on the M7 motorway at 200 km/h on a wet March night. The high‑speed chase began in a housing estate in Kill, Co. Kildare, and ended when Langfield performed a handbrake turn on Nangor Road, Clondalkin, struck the patrol car a second time and mounted a traffic island. He was arrested at the scene and later pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of dangerous driving, criminal damage to a patrol car and having no insurance. Judge Karen O'Connor accepted his remorse, suspended the final 18 months of a three‑year sentence and imposed a custodial term of 18 months. The patrol car suffered €1,400 in damage and was out of service for five days. Langfield had 23 prior convictions, including a suspended sentence for drug possession in 2009.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jail after ramming of patrol car and 200 km/h chase. Charges or matters: two counts of dangerous driving at Rochford Avenue, Kill, and the Nangor Road, Clondalkin, criminal damage of a patrol car and having no insurance on March 7, 2017. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

• March 7, 2017 Hearing Or Sentence
• September 2009 Incident
• 2019-04-12 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Drugs Road Traffic Stage Sentence

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Read the original CNI report