A MAN with a string of drink driving convictions who left a policeman injured after a high-speed chase has been branded a hooligan tearaway by a judge.

Brierley Hill cop Pc Ian Adams was hurt when Edward Preece crashed head-on into his patrol car as the officer tried to bring his stolen Vauxhall to a halt at the end of a terrifying 15 minute pursuit.

The chase began near the Merry Hill Chopping Centre with Preece also twice ramming another police car in his determined bid to avoid arrest.

Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the 36-year-old, who had six previous convictions for drink driving, accelerated away down Stourbridge Road and during the chase went through traffic lights on red, the wrong way round a traffic island and across grass verges.

PC Adams joined the chase and when he tried to block the path of the Vauxhall in Brierley Hill Preece crashed straight into his patrol car and he suffered whiplash injuries.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Mark Eades told Preece: “You have been behaving like a hooligan tearaway teenager for a long time.”

Preece was behind the wheel of a car stolen just three days earlier and carrying false registration plates.

The judge added: “This is just as bad as it gets, you cannot expect any mercy from a court if you behave like this.”

Preece admitted aggravated vehicle taking, driving with excess alcohol, while disqualified and without insurance or a licence - he was jailed for 15 months.

Gurdeep Garcha, for Preece, claimed his client “panicked” when he spotted the patrol car because he knew he was over the alcohol limit having been lent the Vauxhall by friends in the “criminal fraternity.”

Mr Garcha said it was accepted that Preece, of Parkes Lane, Princes End, Tipton, had an appalling record and he knew his driving was “disgraceful.”

He told the court anyone watching the filmed footage of the chase would have been shocked as he demonstrated his inability to comply with the rules of the road.

Mr Garcha said: “He simply cannot stay away from cars when he is banned from the roads, he Is full of remorse and shame for what he did and mortified by this latest piece of bad driving”

Preece, he added, had a long standing alcohol addiction – he was found to be twice over the limit after his arrest – and he knew he would die young unless he sought assistance for the problem.