A drunk motorist who drove at 80 miles per hour in a 30 zone, stopping briefly to laugh at police before speeding off again, has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Richard Waterfield, from Tipton, then boasted to officers that he sped because he could “get away with it” and the £200 fine he would probably get was “no deterrent”.

But Judge Nicholas Webb, sitting at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, said the 26-year-old was “appalling” and passed the custodial sentence.

Waterfield admitted three charges of dangerous driving, driving whilst under the influence of alcohol and driving without insurance.

Prosecuting, Mr Hugh O’Brien-Quinn said police had noticed the defendant driving his silver Vauxhall Vectra around the Bescot area of Walsall on July 24 this year.

He said: “He drove straight over a small traffic island in Newport Street, he continued to drive up Bradford Street at 60 mph in a 30 zone. He slowed down, briefly looked at the officers laughing at them, and then drove off again.

“He travelled at a speed of 70mph in Wednesbury Road in Bescot Crescent and lost control, but he carried on, driving over speed bumps at 50mph with sparks flying. He then got up to 80mph and eventually stopped, put both his arms out of the window and was arrested.”

When he was interviewed by police he said he had a provisional licence when he was 17 but it was taken off him a year later and since then he has been driving illegally.

The court heard that he was two and a half times the legal drink drive limit.

Sentencing Waterfield, of Upper Church Lane, Tipton, Judge Webb said: “You drove a significant distance and at wholly excessive speeds.”

He was also banned from driving for three years.

By Lucy Townsend