[A] CAREER criminal hit 130mph on the M6 in South Cumbria in a desperate bid to motor away from pursuing police.
Officers were waiting for 35-year-old disqualified driver Mark Peter Nicholls as he travelled into Cumbria along the A65 on the evening of April 9.
Dash-cam footage played to Carlisle Crown Court showed Nicholls speeding away and undertaking an HGV in an Audi A3 – bearing stolen number plates – on the Junction 36 roundabout.
As police gave chase on the northbound carriageway, an officer clocked more than 125mph. “But the vehicle (Audi) was pulling away still,” said prosecutor Tim Evans. “The police estimate it was 130mph that the vehicle was doing.”
Nicholls was detained after pulling onto the hard shoulder at the next junction. No accidents or injuries were caused.
Nicholls, of no fixed address, was also identified as being responsible for an attempted break-in at a Kendal fish and chip shop two months earlier. He admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, no insurance, cannabis possession and attempted burglary.
Judge Peter Hughes QC jailed heavily-convicted Nicholls – absent having refused to attend court – for three years.
Judge Hughes, who also banned Nicholls from driving for four years, observed: “It only needs a misjudgement by another driver in panic because of the sight of this vehicle at such a speed, to cause an horrendous accident.”
