William James Murdoch was due to stand trial later this year, but reversed his plea in late July, sparking an arraignment in Tamworth District Court this week.

Murdoch pleaded guilty of an act with intent to pervert the course of justice before Judge Michael King adjourned the case for sentencing.

The charge was triggered after an incident while he was in custody on remand for a police pursuit last year.

In September last year, Murdoch was charged by investigators who alleged recorded prison telephone conversations detailed a plan by Murdoch to coax a friend to take the blame and tell police he was behind the wheel during the chase.

According to police facts, Murdoch persuaded a friend to attend the Tamworth Police Station to provide a false statement about his involvement in the May 2, 2014, pursuit in a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice.

The phone calls were traced from Murdoch while he was being held in a correctional centre between June 17 and 19, 2014.

Murdoch had been in jail since May 2014, after he was captured following a police pursuit through Tamworth.

The seven-minute pursuit reached speeds of up to 140km/h in a 50km/h zone through South and West Tamworth but ended when Murdoch’s Nissan Maxima hit a rural fence after it came to a dead end in Hilton St.

Murdoch jumped from the car and ran but Oxley highway patrol officers found him a short time later hiding in a cubby house in the yard of a nearby house.

He was jailed for at least nine months for the pursuit and became eligible for parole recently.

On July 28, Murdoch was due to appear in the NSW Supreme Court for a bail application after serving his non-parole period for the police pursuit but then withdrew it.

He made no application for release in court this week and will remain behind bars until the case heads back to court in September.