A Ford driver responsible for what a Swindon judge labelled the most dangerous driving he’d seen has been jailed for 14 months.

Police dashcam footage of the chase showed Kai Sawyer’s uninsured estate car being launched into the air as he left the road to drive over a Trowbridge playing field.

By the time the 10 minute chase came to an end, the 23-year-old’s Ford was left with just one tyre.

Sawyer, who had been on bail for an earlier chase through Oxford, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment and banned from the roads for three years and five months. He must pass an extended retest.

Judge Peter Crabtree told Sawyer the footage from the dashboard camera showed “10 minutes of the most dangerous driving I’ve seen”.

He added: “It is in my view a miracle no one was seriously injured.”

Prosecutor Gary Venturi told the court police had tried to pull over Sawyer’s Ford estate in Trowbridge Road, Bradford-on-Avon, shortly before 3pm on August 6 as the police computer flagged it as uninsured. He pulled into a bus stop but then took off.

Over the next 10 minutes, Sawyer led police on a dangerous chase from Bradford to Trowbridge that saw him mount pavements, drive the wrong-way down roads, hit a learner-driver and fail to stop at junctions and roundabouts. His two nearside tyres blew out early on in the chase – slowing him down - and at one point in the footage another tyre could be seen rolling across the road, apparently after coming off the car.

He ploughed through a gate at Studley Green Community Centre and onto the Lambrok playing fields, sending his car flying into the air.

He came to a halt in Azalea Drive, where he struck a parked car. It emerged he had two passengers in the car, as all three ran from police.

Mr Venturi said: “The danger on viewing the footage back is perhaps clear in the way junctions were negotiated, pavements mounted and the state of the vehicle from early on in the pursuit.”

The court heard Sawyer had been on court bail at the time, having earlier pleaded not guilty at Oxford Magistrates’ Court to stealing a car radio and leading police on a pursuit through the city.

He had been linked to the theft of a £350 car radio in Bicester in February 2020. Blood left in the car matched Sawyer’s DNA.

On May 9, officers from Thames Valley Police were called to reports of a motorcyclist crashing into a parked car and a fence in Oxford. Another man, who a witness recognised as Sawyer, turned up to help the motorcyclist push his bike.

When police turned up they saw Sawyer drive a grey Seat Leon directly at them. He swerved around the police car then sped off. During the chase a Volvo 4x4 had to swerve out of the way to avoid the Seat. A puncture forced police to abandon the pursuit. Sawyer and another were found later on near where the grey Seat Leon had been parked up.

Sawyer, formerly of Aldeburgh Place, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving without insurance or a licence, criminal damage, possession of cannabis and theft.

He had 17 convictions on his record for 24 offences, although he had no driving convictions.

Tony Bignall, defending, said his client had had an “awful upbringing”. Both his parents had done stints in prison while he was a child. “His grandparents looked after him whenever there was a time his parents couldn’t because they were both in prison.”

He had a supportive girlfriend and an offer of work as an apprentice tiler upon his release from prison, the lawyer said.