Criminal on cloned motorcycle arrested after high speed pursuit

Declan McCalla was jailed on 2 February 2021 for 14 months after admitting dangerous driving and riding without a licence or insurance.

The 25-year-old from Purcell Road in Bushbury was spotted by a police biker in Easter 2020; while most people were adhering to the government’s stay at home order, McCall was hitting 90mph through 30-limit residential streets, mounting pavements and going the wrong way around traffic islands on a white Yamaha MT-07. The number plate was cloned, and the VRM matched an orange MT-07 that had been registered in Preston.

While the video shows part of the carefully-managed eight-mile pursuit, McCalla was found hiding in a porch by a police dog shortly after. He’s the latest person to be convicted of dangerous driving after West Midlands police ran a series of operations targeting anti-social riders during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“The standard of McCalla’s riding was truly shocking,” said Traffic Sergeant Mitch Darby. “He ramped up pavements and sped across public parks. He could easily have put pedestrians at risk of serious injury.

“But it was all the more outrageous given that we caught him during the middle of the CoVID-19 lockdown. People were being urged to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives – but McCalla used the quiet roads to drive at excess speed and pull stunts.

“Anti-social off-road biking is a real concern for our communities. We’ve responded by running operations to catch offenders and they will continue throughout the summer.

“Anyone who rides dangerously – or rides an off-road bike illegally on public roads or in parks – runs the risk of being arrested and having their bike seized and crushed.”