A 26 YEAR-old Netherton man who was involved in a terrifying high speed police chase has been jailed for 22 months.

Judge Michael Elsom told Shane Stanton, of Arley Court, he could have also killed a friend who fell from his car as he accelerated away after being alerted about the police officers.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court the judge told him: “That man could have hit his head on the kerb or the pavement and he could quite easily have been badly injured or worse.”

It was a risk you took and it did not get much better after that," he added as he also disqualified Stanton of Arley Court from driving for a year.

The court heard how his friend was getting out of Stanton’s Vauxhall Corsa when he suddenly drove off at speed, causing him to roll across the pavement.

Mr Mark Rees prosecuting told the court Stanton forced other motorists to take action to avoid a collision during the chase and went at speed round blind bends and also over a humpbacked bridge – hitting speeds of 60mph in 30mph zones.

He also went the wrong way round a traffic island and on the wrong side of traffic bollards before driving into a park where he forced two people walking their dog to move smartly out of the way of his vehicle.

The court heard how police lost sight of the car, but officers returned to where the chase started and spotted Stanton walking along the pavement. He admitted driving dangerously while disqualified, without insurance and a valid test certificate and was further banned from the road for another year.

Sentencing the defendant the judge said: “You are not very old and you have been in court far too often this year already. If you carry on behaving like this you will spend less time in court because your prison sentences will get longer and longer."