A drunk car thief killed a woman after ploughing into her in an £80,000 stolen car while being pursued by police.
‘Reckless’ Marcin Jablonski, 44, of Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft, was up to four times the drink-drive limit when he drove the Land Rover Defender through a field of 6ft-high corn in Norfolk to try and evade police in marked cars and a helicopter.
Dramatic video footage showed Jablonski trying to shake off the helicopter and two police cars by driving in circles through the corn crop – causing £6,000 of damage – before rejoining the A143 single carriageway near Earsham.
The steering was badly damaged by the bumpy field and, when he rejoined the road, he lost control and smashed into an oncoming Nissan Juke.
Driver Aisatou Mballow Baldeh, 28, suffered massive injuries as her car was flipped onto its roof and she was declared dead at the scene. Jablonski and his son Thomas Urbaniak, 26, who was in the passenger seat, escaped serious injury.
The 44-year-old was jailed for 11 years yesterday after admitting causing death by dangerous driving, having no insurance, causing death while a disqualified driver, aggravated vehicle taking and criminal damage.
This is the moment a stolen Land Rover defender drives through a maize field
Driver Aisatou Mballow Baldeh (pictured), 28, suffered massive injuries as her car was flipped and she was declared dead
The Land Rover drove through a field of 6ft-high corn to try and evade police in marked cars and a helicopter
Urbaniak received a two-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, burglary and being in a vehicle driven by someone causing death by dangerous driving.
In a recording, the police observer in the helicopter could be heard saying: ‘He is snaking through the long crops… he can’t see where he’s going.’
Judge Anthony Bate told Jablonski – a repeat offender in the UK who arrived here after being jailed for 18 months in Poland for stealing a power line – he had been ‘reckless’ during a ‘prolonged and consistent act of dangerous driving’.
He added: ‘You repeatedly evaded the best efforts of police to halt the vehicle and pressed on with its steering compromised, with tragic consequences.’
Mrs Baldeh’s husband, Bocar, said she had been driving to a night shift at the time. He described her as a ‘beautiful and loving person inside and outside’ in a victim impact statement.
The keys to the Land Rover were stolen on August 11 last year by Urbaniak in a burglary where jewellery, handbags and a computer terminal were taken from a flooring firm near his home in Newmarket, Suffolk.
He returned with his father two days later and took the car, which was quickly reported missing by its owner.
‘Reckless’ Marcin Jablonski (pictureed), 44, was up to four times the drink-drive limit
Jablonski and his son Thomas Urbaniak (pictured) , 26, who was in the passenger seat, escaped serious injury
The keys to the Land Rover were stolen on August 11 last year by Urbaniak in a burglary where jewellery, handbags and a computer terminal were taken from a flooring firm
The car could be seen driving circles through the corn maize
Dramatic video footage showed Jablonski trying to shake off the helicopter and two police cars
This is the moment police officers finally arrest the father who was at least twice the legal drink drive limit
Jablonski then lost control and veered onto the other side of the road, where he hit the car driven by Mrs Baldeh, a Gambian-born business management student.
Prosecutor Chris Youell said tests showed he had between 273 and 461 mgs of alcohol in 100ml of urine, compared to a legal limit of 107 mgs.
Jablonski has seven convictions for 15 offences in the UK including three for drink-driving – the most recent from May last year when he was banned from driving for 22 months.
He was given a one-year consecutive jail term for breaching a 14-month suspended sentence imposed at Ipswich Crown Court two weeks before the crash and was also banned from driving for 13 years.
Detective Inspector David McCormack, of Norfolk Police, said: ‘They had every opportunity to stop and they chose not to – and that decision had devastating consequences and caused terrible suffering that was wholly avoidable.’
The incident was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is continuing its investigation.
