A DISQUALIFIED driver who led police on a high speed chase because he was worried officers would take his dog has been jailed.

Jamie Sharman-Palmer, 32, was given the eight month prison sentence at Swindon Crown Court this week.

Banning the Corsham man, who has never passed his test and has a poor history of driving offences, for two years and eight months, Judge Peter Crabtree ordered that Sharman-Palmer must pass an extended test if he wants to drive legally.

He told the defendant, who appeared in court via prison video link: “You understand the law better than I do, in the circumstances.”

Sharman-Palmer had admitted dangerous driving and other linked offences when he appeared before the magistrates’ court in March.

Officers from Avon and Somerset Police had passed Sharman-Palmer’s Renault Clio on the M5 and M4 Almondsbury interchange at around 10.30pm on Monday, March 1.

The car was going at around 40mph to 45mph and checks by the police officers suggested it was uninsured.

The police slowed down and, eventually, the officers’ car was overtaken by the Clio. They activated their blue lights in an attempt to get the Renault to stop.

Sharman-Palmer sped away from the officers, hitting speeds of between 100mph and 110mph, then turned off at Junction 18.

He went through a red light at the roundabout then hit 70mph on the A46 to Bath. The driver ignored 40mph signs and overtook on a bend.

The Renault headed towards Corsham, going through further red lights.

Eventually, police units deployed a stinger device and Sharman-Palmer fled on foot, leaving behind his heavily pregnant girlfriend. A police dog found him hiding in a garden a short distance away.

His lawyer at the magistrates’ court said Sharman-Palmer was worried that police would take away his bulldog, as he believed – wrongly – it was a banned breed.

He told police in his interview that he’d been arguing with his pregnant girlfriend and had taken a wrong turning. He ignored repeated requests from her to stop the car.

Sharman-Palmer, of Dicketts Road, Corsham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving with no insurance. He has previous convictions for dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified.