A man in a stolen vehicle who led police on a chase through Salford at speeds of over 100 miles per hour, which saw him collide with another car has been sentenced following an investigation by our taskforce tackling organised crime in the city.
Manchester Crown Square heard how Jacob Rimmer, 21, described his own driving as ‘f***ing ridiculous’ when questioned by officers following the pursuit between Swinton and Little Hulton in August this year.
Rimmer came to the attention of covert police on the afternoon of Sunday 29 August when he was seen in a white BMW 120 twice aggressively performing U-turns – causing the tyres to screech – on Queensway in the Clifton area of Swinton. After initially stopping when asked to do so on nearby Whitegrave Drive, Rimmer then refused to exit the vehicle on our request – falsely claiming that he was disabled – before accelerating harshly and speeding away.
Officers from our Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit (TVIU) proceeded to pursue Rimmer for the next six minutes as he went through red lights, drove on the wrong side of the road, hit speeds of 115mph on Bolton Road towards Walkden and collided with a red Vauxhall Corsa on the A6 – just off Ridyard Street – causing it to spin 180 degrees.
The vehicle was damaged and fortunately the occupant was not seriously injured.Seconds later, Rimmer ran out of the car and was chased by police before he was detained and taken to custody. A lock knife was found near to Rimmer’s arrest and a kitchen knife was found in the driver’s door of the car. Prior to Rimmer’s interview, it had been established he had been driving a car on cloned plates after it had been stolen from a property in Leigh four days earlier, and that he was not insured to drive the vehicle.
He denied any knowledge that the BMW was stolen but admitted his driving was ‘f***ing ridiculous’ and he found the kitchen knife in the driver’s door but kept it because it looked ‘sick’. Investigators from GMP Salford’s Operation Naseby – formed to tackle a spate of organised crime in the city in late 2019 – charged Rimmer with handling stolen goods, failing to stop for police, dangerous driving, driving without insurance, and possession of an offensive weapon. Rimmer, of Greenleach Lane, Worsley, pleaded guilty to all four counts and was today (Wednesday 10 November) sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, a rehabilitation activity requirement, unpaid work, a five month curfew and a two year driving ban. The white BMW had been stolen four days prior to the offence on August 29 this year, but Rimmer was not said to be involved with the theft, though he later admitted knowing it had been stolen. Rimmer was said to have no previous convictions. Mitigating, his lawyer Lloyd Morgan said his client had been diagnosed with ADHD and said he is ‘absolutely horrified’ by his driving. “He does feel shame, bitter regret and remorse for that and particularly for the lady in the Corsa,”.
He said Rimmer was employed by HMRC but following the Covid lockdown he found it hard to work from home and distanced himself from his family. Sentencing him, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said: “The facts are very, very chilling.“You are a young man who had everything going for you, but for reasons beyond the comprehension of this court you drove off from the police in what can only be described as the most horrific police pursuit.“It was a sheer miracle that there were no casualties littered along your path and it is by the grace of God that nobody sustained serious injuries.
Operation Naseby
It is the latest conviction as part of the Operation Naseby ‘disruption hub’, which has been responsible for 240 arrests, 245 vehicle seizures, the recovery of over £500k worth of drugs, and has searched over 100 homes linked to individuals involved in crime. Weapons recovered have included a loaded handgun, a shotgun, two loaded crossbows, a number of machetes and dozens of other knives and bladed articles.
23 people have been recalled to prison, and numerous other offenders have been convicted of a range of drug, driving, and firearms offences, including several targets from the outset of the operation. Due to a backlog of court cases due to the pandemic, a number of further cases are currently waiting to be heard. The anti-gang taskforce recently received an extra £95,000 of funding to continue the operation for at least the next six months.
Detective Sergeant Daniel Worthington, of GMP’s Salford district, said: “Rimmer’s level of driving that day was nothing short of appalling, and the officers involved in the pursuit remarked on how it was by sheer luck or fortune that he didn’t seriously injure or even kill somebody as a result.”Thankfully, this case is exemplary of how we’re able to utilise our TVIU officers to pursue suspects illegally using vehicles in the city; bringing them into custody and stopping them posing a risk to other road users.
“Our ability to catch Rimmer and bring him to justice is yet another demonstration of how we’ve been able to tackle a whole range of crime as part of Operation Naseby – including the possession of weapons and the use of stolen vehicles, which are often used by serious and organised criminals. “The results of our work have been evident over the last 18 months and we will not relent in putting more offenders before the courts.”
One year of action
Operation Naseby a year on: Salford disruption activity sees shootings down, targets behind bars, and significant seizures of drugs, weapons and cars in its first year
Firearms discharges have almost halved in Salford after GMP’s dedicated operation to tackle organised crime in the city has seen the seizure of scores of weapons, drugs, and cars, as well as 180 arrests since its formation a year ago. The Operation Naseby disruption hub was introduced in April 2020 after a total of 25 firearms discharges, mostly involving a series of violent incidents between two rival criminal groups, in the space of 12 months in Salford.
Over 30 officers – including detectives, complex safeguarding officers, neighbourhood patrols, and pursuit-trained officers – were tasked with proactively targeting and tackling offenders suspected of being involved in organised crime. Since its inception, the team has supported 179 arrests, 180 vehicle seizures, recovered over £500,000’s worth of drugs, and searched over 75 houses. Weapons recovered have included a shotgun, two loaded crossbows, a number of machetes and dozens of other knives and bladed articles. Due to a backlog of court cases due to the pandemic, a further 42 cases are currently waiting to be heard.
Twenty people have been recalled to prison, and numerous other offenders have been convicted of a range of drug, driving, and firearms offences, including several targets from the outset of the operation. This includes Jamie Swindells, 22, of Hereford Road, Eccles, who was convicted in September 2020 of possession of a bladed weapon, and possession with intent to supply crack cocaine after he was stopped in a vehicle and searched by officers.
Swindells was believed to be involved in the dispute in the Kersal and Lower Broughton area in April 2020, which was one of the catalysts that prompted the hub’s launch. He is now serving a five-and-a-half year sentence. Last week, Olatunde Kuberofsky, 23, from Salford, was jailed for over two-and-a-half years for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, heroin and cocaine, and assault of an emergency worker, following a vehicle stop in Seedley.
Kuberofsky tried to run away from the vehicle and physically assaulted an officer prior to being detained; subsequent searches found he was in possession of large quantities of Class A drugs and money. Yesterday (Tuesday 20 April), Tony Partington, 30, of Southgarth Road, and Spencer Candland, 36, of Langworthy Road, were jailed after they were found to have over £150,000’s worth of cannabis in their car boot and at Partingon’s address when stopped by officers in Langworthy in February 2020. They have each been sentenced to two-and-a-half years.
Resources from GMP’s Serious and Organised Crime Group, and Specialist Operations Unit have also been used to assist with the disruption hub’s work. The team have worked with local agencies across Salford to safeguard vulnerable adults and children, and have continued collaboration with Salford City Council with Project Gulf – an initiative focused on diverting young people away from crime.
Detective Chief Inspector Rick Thompson, head of proactive Salford CID, said:
“A year on from the start of the Op Naseby disruption hub we can see the positive impact that the relentless work from our dedicated team has had on the streets of Salford. “When the hub began, this was a project planned to last six weeks to try and disrupt the sequence of incidents that we were seeing, but as time has gone on this has grown into a vital tool in our overarching effort to tackle organised crime in the city. “We’re in a position now where nearly all of the targets we identified 12 months ago are either making their way through the courts or are now behind bars, and we are not going to stop there.
“Our officers have dedicated a significant amount of time and effort, alongside their day to day duties, to making a real difference to the communities they serve and we will continue to work tirelessly to drive down local organised criminality. “There is still work to be done – there were still 15 firearms discharges in the last year, which is a 40% drop on the year before, but we want that number to be brought down further.
“To do that, we are committed in continuing our pursuit of offenders involved in vehicle-taking, drug-dealing, and possessing weapons, and ensuring we work with partners to safeguard vulnerable people at risk of being coerced into this activity. “I’d like to thank the public for their on-going support while reminding them of the importance of reporting suspicious or concerning behaviour to police, and I hope the community feel reassured by our results so far that when we do receive information, we will take effective action.”
