Police vehicles targeted in drug-fuelled crime spree

He was also charged with drug driving, failing to stop on police direction and three counts of unlicensed driving.

Buckingham stole about $400 from a Preston Market business, causing $990 damage to it while breaking in, after driving there while unlicensed at 2am on September 14, 2023.

He also used a hammer when trying to break into a Thomastown business at 2.15am.

He then stole about $250 and a grey Holden Commodore, which he drove through a roller door at Ultra Tune, Epping at 3.03am, causing $8439.09 of damage.

Police spotted Buckingham drug driving the stolen Commodore twice in Shepparton later that day.

While on Wilmot Rd, police had to steer their car into an emergency lane to avoid a collision after Buckingham crossed to the wrong side of the road speeding at them without headlights on, at 9.45pm.

Buckingham stole four packs of cigarettes after using a car jack to break into Ampol service station in Kialla at 1am on September 15, 2023.

He drove the stolen Commodore to a Shepparton transport business with three co-accused at 1.35am, where he stole a red Holden Commodore to ram a warehouse door open.

After they broke into the warehouse, Buckingham stole a white Toyota HiLux, which never left the premises.

He also stole a Chevrolet Silverado ute, which he drove to mycar Tyre and Auto, Shepparton, and a black BMW hatch his co-accused drove at 2.20am.

He caused a total of $8444.44 damage to the transport business.

Buckingham reversed the Chevrolet into a roller door at mycar, causing $874.50 damage, but couldn’t enter and drove away.

He then ran a red light to get away from police chasing him on St George’s Rd at 2.37am, before another police car mounted a kerb to avoid being hit by him at 3am on Wilmot Rd.

On Wyndham St, he then swerved towards another vehicle, narrowly missing it and forcing it to pull over.

Buckingham then attempted to collide head-on with a police car at 100km/h on River Rd, Kialla, with the police car being driven into a road shoulder to avoid a collision.

While police pursued him, Buckingham reached up to 180km/h in a 100km/h zone.

He almost collided with a truck while driving 150km/h in a 60km/h zone on the wrong side of the Goulburn Valley Fwy, before bursting a tyre and running out of fuel.

He swapped into the stolen BMW hatch, being driven by a co-accused, and was a passenger in it when it was eventually stopped with stop sticks after it had been allegedly been driven at 200km/h by a co-accused.

The court heard Buckingham previously stole $53 worth of petrol from Coles Express, Kialla, before police tried to stop him in a white Holden Commodore on September 8, 2023 while he was driving erratically.

The following day, he stole $61.63 of petrol from an Epping service station.

In sentencing Buckingham, Judge John Kelly called his offending “extremely grave”, as well as “impulsive, risky and grossly reckless”.

He said his prospects of rehabilitation were bleak and that he was deemed a high risk of re-offending.

“(You’re offending was) reckless, impulsive, and exposed others in your path to grave risk,” he said.

Judge Kelly noted police officers suffered no serious injuries, but said Buckingham still put their lives in danger by “taking out his boredom” on them.

He acknowledged Buckingham’s “disadvantaged and chaotic upbringing”, and that he started using drugs from a young age.

The court heard he was also using them daily before and during the offending.

Judge Kelly noted his mild intellectual disability and complex post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, which needed intensive ongoing treatment unavailable in prison.

Buckingham was sentenced to five years and two months in prison and will have to serve two years and 10 months before becoming eligible for parole.

The 453 days he has spent in prison will count as time already served.

He was also fined $2500 and disqualified from applying for a licence for three years.