A former youth worker who sped along a Wolverhampton road almost three times over the speed limit during a police chase has avoided jail.

Kurtis Buchanan-Nelson, aged 23, of Park Road West, Wolverhampton, caught the attention of officers when he shot past them on a roundabout on March 8 last year.

Officers clocked Buchanan-Nelson doing 86mph on a road with a 30mph speed limit, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday. Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said: “At about 2am in the morning officers were in a marked vehicle in the Finchfield area of Wolverhampton. A Renault Clio then cut across a roundabout and narrowly missed them. They turned the blue lights on and followed the car.”

Mr Phillips told the court that Buchanan-Nelson drove on the wrong side of the road for part of the chase and was going so fast that the officers decided to give up the pursuit because they deemed it too dangerous. He later handed himself into the police after they traced the owner of the car to one of his friends. The court was shown police footage of the chase.

Mr Robert Cowley, defending, said: “He admitted he was the driver when many would not have. He has a son and takes his role as a father very seriously. He is trying to give his son a good upbringing.”

Mr Cowley added the defendant was not working at present, but had done youth work in the past. Judge Michael Dudley told Buchanan-Nelson: “You don’t need me to tell you how dangerous this piece of driving was. You could have lost control due to your speed. Why you did this I will never understand.”

Buchanan-Nelson pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was given a 32-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

Judge Dudley also ordered him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work, ordered him to pay £200 court costs and subjected him to a four-month curfew from 8pm-6am.