Ex-serviceman jailed for M6 100mph chase in stolen car

Gary Walton reached speeds of 100 mph while evading officers on the motorway.

The pursuit involved several patrol cars and the police helicopter. It only came to an end when the tyres came off – the rims of the wheels having been caught by the police's stinger device near to Featherstone.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday how 28-year-old Walton, who left the army in 2011 after Defence cuts, was spotted in a Saab vehicle on December 23 last year.

The car, worth £4,000, had been stolen from a house in the West Midlands three days earlier and Walton was seen driving it along the M6 near Walsall by an unmarked police car.

Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting, said: "Officers were on patrol and their attention was drawn to the vehicle and they began to follow it.

"It was travelling through the roadworks and it began to speed up. The car continued to drive erratically and they put on the blue lights but the defendant sped up to 100 mph. He exited at junction 11 going northbound and went through a red traffic light. The police helicopter was up and the stinger was activated. The defendant drove straight through it on the A460 Cannock Road before stopping."

Mr Mohammed Riaz, defending,said: "This is something he deeply regrets and he is remorseful."

Walton of Clunbury Croft, Shard End, Birmingham pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving and handling stolen goods.

He was jailed for 12 months for both offences and banned from driving for two years.