Jai Lake, 21, pleads guilty to high speed West Tamworth police pursuit | Strike Force Western Mongoose

Jai Lake, 21, pleaded guilty in Tamworth Local Court last week to charges of police pursuit, driving a stolen car and driving without ever having had a license.

He has remained behind bars since his dramatic arrest in the early hours of May 15.

Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor Alison Lee told the court Lake admitted to the allegations laid out in the set of police facts, and said he wanted to be sentenced as soon as possible.

"Please," Lake said from the video link.

Magistrate Julie Soars said it was a very serious police pursuit and she required a full assessment to be done.

"He's accepted responsibility," she said.

The matter was adjourned to July for sentencing and bail was formally refused.

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Officers dedicated to a property crime operation - codenamed Strike Force Western Mongoose - were in West Tamworth after midnight on May 15 when they spotted a blue Holden ute that had earlier been reported stolen from Oxley Vale.

Police said it was travelling at speed on Cole Road and flashed its headlights at the cop car.

Police followed and saw the ute cross to the wrong side of the road at one point, before it continued through the streets of West Tamworth.

It was spotted again on Robert Street just before 1am and a pursuit was sparked.

Officers clocked the ute travelling at speeds "in excess" of 140km per hour and continued behind it at a safe distance.

The ute sped up to an estimated 145km per hour and police called off the chase due to the "very real potential of a serious incident occurring, which would have been catastrophic", the facts show.

Lake was seen getting out of the car when it stopped and officers followed him on foot into a backyard, where he was arrested.

The keys to the ute were found nearby.

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