'Paranoid' motorist fled police at '100mph' on wrong side of M62 near Leeds
A motorist who took a stolen car on the M62 travelling in the wrong direction at high speed was told by a judge it was “as dangerous as one could possibly conceive”.
Mason Smith was already on a suspended sentence for dangerous driving when he tried to deter police from chasing him by driving at “100 mph” on the wrong carriageway in November of last year.
He was only brought to halt after being rammed by two police cars.
The 28-year-old was jailed this week at Leeds Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while banned, having no insurance, criminal damage and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said officers spotted the vehicle on the Armley Gyratory after midnight on November 21 last year.
They tried to follow it after noticing the front and rear registration plates were different but lost sight.
Other officers were alerted and he was spotted again on Dewsbury Road. He pulled over when instructed, but took off again when the officer approached on foot.
He then got onto the M62 travelling east on the westbound carriageway. One officer said he estimated Smith was driving at 100mph at one point into unsuspecting oncoming traffic.
He then left the M62 at the Lofthouse Interchange onto the M1, still on the wrong carriageway.
Smith eventually found his way back onto the correct side of the M1, but was looking to again cross to the opposite direction when he was rammed into the barrier by two police cars.
They did it with such force the airbags were activated. Smith was arrested but was “aggressive and uncooperative”.
He was taken to hospital and remained defiant, spitting on the floor.
Smith, of Seddon Close, Radcliffe, Manchester, has 23 previous convictions for 44 offences.
Most notably, he was given a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Manchester Crown Court in March last year for dangerous driving.
Mitigating, Emily Potter said: “The defendant is aware how serious this is, that immediate custody is inevitable and that’s what he deserves.”
She said he suffered “significant” mental problems, had been sectioned several times, was diagnosed with psychosis and was medicated.
She said the father-of-three was “extremely remorseful”, but said it was a “bad bout of paranoia” in which he thought the police were part of gang trying to harm him.
But Judge Howard Crowson dismissed this and said: “These were marked police cars with blue lights a sirens. I can’t accept it was the basis of your driving that night.
“It was about as dangerous as one can conceive.
“That road is always busy, perhaps one of the busiest motorways in the region.”
He said it was by “good fortune” that a collision was avoided.
Judge Crowson activated 12 months of his suspended sentence and gave him another 16 months, making a total of 28 months’ jail.
He was also banned from driving for six years and two months.