Tipton drink-driver in high-speed car chase

Shaun Lloyd took a silver Renault Megane belonging to his parents' friend while they were at a party at their home on February 9.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that the 27-year-old left the house abruptly at around 11pm with his friend Karl Saunders after stealing car keys off an armchair.

Miss Alka Brigue, prosecuting, said police started following the car when it sped through a red light on Locarno Road in Tipton.

"He was driving at speeds of between 40mph and 60mph and went through another set of traffic lights on Newhall Street," said Miss Brigue. "On Farmer Way, which runs through a housing estate, he narrowly avoided a collision with another car." Lloyd eventually stopped a few yards from a stinger device on Horseley Road.

The court heard that Lloyd, of Jays Avenue, Dudley Port, was breathalysed and the lowest reading he provided was 86 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than twice the legal limit of 35. Miss Jane Sarginson, defending, said: "It was a moment of sheer stupidity, which he has recognised." Lloyd pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle dangerously, using a motor vehicle without third party insurance, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence, driving when his alcohol level was above the limit and taking a vehicle without the owner's consent.

Recorder Robert Spencer-Bernard told him: "You are a person who has never even passed a driving test and as such shouldn't be anywhere near a car."

Lloyd was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also placed on an 18-month supervision order and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £350.

His passenger, Saunders, aged 28, of St John's Road, Tipton, was sentenced in March after he admitted allowing himself knowingly to be carried in a vehicle taken without the owner's consent.