Video: High-speed pursuit criminal jailed for nine months (From Thisisdorset)

Video: High-speed pursuit criminal jailed for nine months

10:00am Saturday 28th April 2012 in Latest By Julie Magee

A BANNED driver who caused terror on a busy dual carriageway during a high-speed police pursuit has been jailed for nine months.

Former insurance salesman Martin Pow, 46, who had no licence or insurance and was already wanted by police following an assault, was caught on camera travelling at up to 104mph on the A338 Spur Road, During the seven-minute pursuit the green Peugeot 307 crashed into six vehicles, including the marked police car following him, sped through a red light, undertook vehicles and drove on the wrong side of the road.

Pow, of no fixed address, was finally forced to stop after police deployed a stinger device near the congested Ashley Heath roundabout. He admitted dangerous driving and having no insurance on February 19 this year.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court yesterday, Angela England said Pow had turned off the A338 at Blackwater Bridge before travelling through residential areas in St Catherine’s Hill, Christchurch, and driving back onto the A338.

She added: “He drove aggressively at other vehicles, went through a red light without stopping and approached the brow of a hill on the wrong side of the road. As he approached the Ashley Heath roundabout he was seen to weave in and out of traffic. He drove on the grass verge and hit five other vehicles before stopping and reversing into the police car.

“He caused significant damage to one car, belonging to a member of the public, with part of it dropping off onto the carriageway.”

The court heard how Pow, who has 21 convictions for 57 offences, ran off but was arrested nearby.

Defending Pow, Robert Griffiths said: “When he does offend he does it in style; he spends a great deal of time going in and out of prison and is becoming institutionalised. He has made efforts to turn his life around but has difficulty coping with life on the outside.

“My client had been stressed and had borrowed a car. He wanted to get out of town and head up north to get away from issues causing him considerable stress.

“Once he realised police were behind him he panicked. He hit the police car as he was trying to get away; there was not a conscious decision to ram it. He is a surprisingly intelligent person.”

Sentencing Pow, Judge Samuel Wiggs told him: “This was a course of extremely dangerous driving; an extremely determined effort to get away from police. You could very easily have killed someone; it was not a momentary loss of control.”

Pow was banned from driving for three years and must take an extended test before driving.