Katanning man fined after evading police in Albany and breaching terms of extraordinary licence

A Katanning man whose extraordinary licence only allowed him to drive to and from work in Katanning evaded police when they tried to stop him at a McDonald’s drive-through in Albany in the early hours of a Saturday morning. Dean Phillip Henwood, 44, appeared in the Albany Magistrates Court on September 15 on charges of failing to comply with a direction to stop driving a vehicle and driving contrary to a specified time, purpose, locality or road on an extraordinary licence. Police prosecutor Sgt Dave Loverock told the court the charges related to an incident which occurred about 2.10 am on July 2 in Albany. Sgt Loverock said police officers followed Henwood as he drove along Albany Highway then turned into the McDonald’s drive-through in Orana. The officers were directly behind Henwood in the drive-through and activated their emergency lights, intending to stop him for a random breath test. The court was told Henwood was stationary for 13 seconds as the officers got out of their vehicle, but then accelerated through the drive-through and took off at speed through the shopping centre carpark. Police followed with their emergency lights on but were unable to stop Henwood when he drove out of the carpark. The incident was captured on McDonald’s CCTV cameras. Henwood was arrested by Katanning police on August 5 and admitted to driving at the time of the incident. He was driving on an extraordinary driver’s licence issued on December 8, 2021 which only allowed him to drive to and from his employment as a meat packer in Katanning. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan cancelled Henwood’s extraordinary licence and ordered him to pay a $1000 fine for the charge of failing to stop and $500 for driving outside of the conditions of his licence. “The terms of your licence do not include McDonald’s Orana,” Ms Scaddan said.