A man who drove at 90mph with a child in his car before crashing into a police vehicle on the M5 near Burnham-On-Sea has been jailed this week.
Wayne Smith tried to evade officers on the M5 between Burnham and Weston when he lost control and ploughed into the side of the patrol vehicle, which caught fire.
Sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Barry Berlin said he had exposed the young child “to the gravest danger in an appalling way”.
Smith, 27, of Mile Oak, Tamworth, was jailed for two years and two months.
The BBC reports that the court heard how Smith had assaulted a woman during a row at an address in Staffordshire on 4 August last year before taking the child without her knowledge and driving 260 miles to Cornwall the following day. His car was spotted the next day heading northbound on the M5 back towards the Midlands.
Officers tried to box Smith in between junction 22 at Burnham and junction 21 at Weston-super-Mare, at about 9pm on 5th August. But Smith “accelerated” away and veered left on to the hard shoulder to evade the marked cars, the court heard.
Smith undertook three vehicles then “swerved” to avoid another patrol car and lost control, ploughing straight into the side of a marked police BMW 4×4. A police car was hit with such force it flipped over several times, trapping the officer, and then caught fire. Officers found Smith, who was not wearing a seatbelt, still in the driver’s seat.
The child, who escaped serious injury, had ended up in the foot well of the passenger seat because Smith failed to fasten the youngster in, the court heard.
Smith was being sentenced following his conviction after trial in February of common assault, child cruelty, dangerous driving and causing actual bodily harm to the police officer. He was acquitted of false imprisonment and sexual assault. He was also banned from driving for three years and given a restraining order.
