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JAILED: Drugs courier drove wrong way down M6 in high-speed police chase

A man with a string of driving convictions who tried to lose police by driving the wrong way down the M6 near Stafford has been jailed.

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Christopher Burnett, aged 28, was ferrying cannabis from Liverpool to London when officers tried to flag him down on August 1.

They spotted him driving a black Ford Galaxy between junctions 14 and 13 at about 8pm, where he sped off onto the A449, driving at about 80mph, twice the road's speed limit.

He then raced back onto the motorway on the wrong side, putting motorists at serious risk before he was stopped by police.

When officers searched the car, they found two suitcases loaded with 8.76 kilos of cannabis.

In admitting dangerous driving and possessing cannabis with intent to supply, Burnett, of Folkestone Road in East Ham, London, said he panicked when he saw police on the motorway because he knew the drugs were in the car.

Stafford Crown Court was told Burnett said he had been forced to take the cannabis because of a debt owed to dealers.

He had only been legally allowed to drive again for five and a half months at the time of the offence after he was disqualified from driving for a year in March 2015. For that offence he was given a nine month suspended sentence, suspended for two years.

He was previously disqualified from driving in 2011 for nine months and received a community order for driving while disqualified in November 2014.

At Snaresbrook Crown Court in October 2009, he was sentenced to 39 months in prison for robbery.

For Burnett, Miss Tessa Shroff said he had been the 'supervised and not the supervisor' in being forced to take the drugs in the car.

The judge sentenced Burnett to a total of 20 months in jail, eight months for possessing drugs with intent to supply them, six months for driving dangerously and six months for committing an offence after being given a suspended sentence. They will all run consecutively.

He was also disqualified from driving for three years.

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