A teenager led police on a 140mph chase down the motorway hard shoulder in what one officer described as one of the most dangerous pieces of driving he’d ever seen. 

Jawad Ali, now 20 but just 19 when he was caught doing twice the speed limit on the M4, was sentenced to six months in a young offenders institution at Salisbury Crown Court this morning. 

Sending him into custody and banning him from the roads for two years and three months, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “You drove over a prolonged distance at a significantly excessive speed including a considerable distance along the hard shoulder well over twice the legal speed limit undertaking 50 vehicles – unsuspecting motorists, no doubt.

“It is no surprise that PS Ayres at one staff in his statement, an experienced road traffic officer, considers this was some of the most dangerous driving he had ever seen. 

“It was an obvious and significant risk in my view to life and property. It is at the greater harm level.” 

Video from Sgt Ayres' dash cam shows the chase hit 140mph Video: WILTSHIRE POLICE

The court heard Ali had been driving a grey Range Rover sport down the M4 on August 1 before 9pm  – barely two weeks after he’d had his licence stripped from him by the DVLA for earlier speeding matters. 

Wiltshire Police officer Sgt William Ayres, who was using a speed gun to check drivers on the motorway, clocked the pricey 4x4 doing 108mph. 

The officer accelerated in front of him and illuminated the “follow me” signs in his patrol vehicle before turning off the motorway at Junction 16.

Ali appeared to follow him but, at the last minute, gunned the Range Rover back onto the main road. Sgt Ayres was forced to go around the roundabout at J16 and re-enter the M4 westbound towards Chippenham.

The chase hit a section of the motorway limited to 50mph – with traffic in the road.

Unperturbed, Ali turned into the hard shoulder and accelerated his Range Rover to 140mph leaving a cloud of dust behind him. He passed an estimated 47 to 50 vehicles in the inside lane.

At Junction 17 he slowed to 117mph then pulled over. Sgt Ayres got out, opened Ali’s passenger-side door and told the man to get out. 

The 4x4 driver had other ideas, driving off at speed then turning onto the A350 towards Chippenham. He was later stopped near Kington Langley by a unit of armed officers.

Inside the car were two wraps of cannabis. The officer could smell the drug in the car and, when he was tested at the roadside, Ali provided a positive sample for the class B substance. He later refused to provide a specimen of blood at the police station.

In a statement, Sgt Ayres described the driving as some of the most dangerous driving he had ever seen.

In mitigation, it was said Ali was still a young man, lived with his parents in London and was supported by them financially. He was remorseful and had no previous convictions, only a caution for cannabis possession. He had told the probation officer who prepared a pre-sentence report on him that he had not fully appreciated the seriousness of what he did.

At an earlier hearing, the man’s lawyers said he had been travelling to celebrate Eid with relatives in south Wales. He had panicked when he had seen police and made off. 

Ali, of Malvern Gardens, Harrow, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, failing to provide a specimen and possession of cannabis resin.

Sentencing the man, Judge Crabtree acknowledged the defendant’s youth and his remorse, but said only immediate custody would suffice. 

The judge said: “This was a bad case of dangerous driving over a prolonged distance and at an exceptionally high speed.”