A CITY judge told a driver it was a miracle he had not killed anyone during the worst episode of dangerous driving he had ever seen.

Drug driver Toniel Bailey accelerated to 130mph during the police pursuit and did not stop even when his tyres were shredded by a police stinger.

The 26-year-old convicted robber who did not have a full licence and had no insurance ran four sets of red lights, undertook other cars at high speed and at one stage was driving at 70mph through a residential area, more than double the speed limit of 30mph.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright, an experienced judge based at Worcester Crown Court, said: "The course of the driving that took place is as bad as it can get."

The police chase, which lasted around 10 minutes, took place on Saturday, March 9 last year, beginning at junction 1 of the M42 near Bromsgrove.

The police were alerted because the Volkswagen Passat had previously failed to stop for West Midlands Police.

Ian Ball, prosecuting, said Bailey accelerated to 130mph when police activated blue lights, that traffic was forced to brake sharply to avoid a crash and that the driver of a marked police car had to swerve to avoid a collision. A stinger was deployed on the A435 Portway Island which deflated all four tyres.

Two men left the car, including the defendant, and ran away before being detained.

Bailey failed a roadside drugs test and a later blood test revealed 7.7mcg of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, a metabolite of cannabis, per litre of blood.

He was therefore close to four times the legal limit of 2mcg. Officers also found cannabis consistent with personal use and a joint in Bailey's sock.

Alison Scott-Jones, defending, argued there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and that he did not have 'firmly entrenched criminal behaviour'.

She told the judge her client had Asperger's syndrome and had worked for Birmingham City Council as a gardener and it would be likely he could take up that work again after the Covid-19 regime was relaxed.

Referring to the passenger, Miss Scott-Jones said Bailey had 'struggled to assert himself in the face of someone who was a much stronger personality'.

Judge Cartwright told the defendant had been given instructions to stop but instead 'you put your foot down in order to try to get away'. He accepted that Bailey's passenger had asked him not to stop for police but added: "You were the one that had your foot on the pedals.

"You could have put your foot on the clutch and the brake and brought the car to a standstill but you didn't."

He added: "You were driving at 130mph on the motorway, you were doing 70mph through 30mph limits and overtaking on blind bends which would have resulted in a head-on high speed collision had anyone been coming the other way.

"It's nothing short of miraculous that someone wasn't seriously injured or killed."

The judge jailed him for 14 months and banned him from driving for two years. He extended this ban by seven months so it will begin when Bailey is released on licence at the halfway point of his custodial sentence. Bailey of Hagley Road, Birmingham, was also handed six penalty points for driving with no insurance.