Man found hiding in a drain after A27 police pursuit

A blue Audi Q3 which was showing as untaxed was spotted driving eastbound on the A27 at Lewes about 12.03am on Monday 22 February.

The Audi was pulled over by Roads Policing Unit (RPU) officers, who spoke to the driver and requested he got out of his vehicle. At this point, he accelerated away from the scene and continued towards Polegate, reaching speeds of up to 90mph.

Meanwhile, further RPU and Tactical Firearms Unit officers set up a stop stick – a tyre deflation device – at the junction with the A2270, which effectively punctured all four tyres.

The vehicle was boxed in but the driver ran off and was chased by officers on foot. He managed to get away after scaling a large wall.

Multiple units including the police helicopter were deployed, and the suspect was eventually found by police dog Flak hiding in a drain which runs under the road in Black Path, Polegate.

The suspect was identified as Dean Loughran-Oxley, 42, a road worker, of no fixed address.

He was arrested and charged with dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop when required by police and possession of cannabis. He pleaded guilty to the charges, according to a spokesman for Sussex Police.

He was remanded in custody to appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 23 February, where he was further remanded ahead of sentencing on 23 March.

Assistant Chief Constable Lisa Bell, of Operations Command, said: “Our frontline officers are trained to an extremely high standard across multiple disciplines to ensure they are able to respond to a wide range of incidents. Being multi-skilled enables our officers to work together effectively to achieve our force priorities – to protect communities, to catch criminals and to deliver an outstanding service.

“This is just one example of officers from different divisions putting their own expertise to good use, while also counting on their colleagues to help achieve the desired outcome.

“Some people may see this as just part of their job, but our frontline officers put themselves in harm’s way to prevent, detect and respond to crime in order to keep the public safe.”