A ROOFER led police on a dangerous chase through Swindon, hitting speeds of 70mph in a 30 zone.

Simon David Knowles’s driving was likened to “firing a loaded gun in a shopping mall” after he took police near to a primary school and the wrong way around a roundabout during the pursuit.

He was driving in his Audi A3 dangerously on Rodbourne Road, Cheney Manor Road, Akers Way, the B4006, Moredon Road and Thamesdown Drive.

After the vehicle was eventually stopped, he tried to make off, prosecutor Pauline Lambert said.

Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (August 3), he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and possession of cannabis.

District Judge Joanna Dickens said that the chase was an “incredibly serious incident”.

Defending, Mark Glendenning said: “I appreciate it’s a dangerous driving.

“I’d ask you to consider adjourning for all options including committal [to the Crown Court for sentence].

“He made a stupid mistake, he accepts that.

“Frank admissions are made at the roadside and in the police station.”

Sending the case to Swindon Crown Court on September 2, DJ Dickens told Knowles, of Fairfax Close in Walcot, that it was “extremely lucky that anyone wasn’t killed”.

She imposed an interim driving ban and he was fined a total of £169, including costs, for the cannabis offence.