A POLICEMAN put through a terrifying ordeal by dangerous driver Lee Parfitt, jailed for four-and-a-half years yesterday, says "justice has been done".

Abergavenny-born Parfitt rammed a police car and deliberately drove into a ravine, taking terrified PC Blair Jones (pictured) with him.

Parfitt was also banned from driving for ten years by a judge at Cardiff crown court. PC Jones, 31, told the Argus after yesterday's verdict that he was "lucky to be alive" after his ordeal.

He said: "I am very pleased with it and I think that justice has been done. "I just hope that Parfitt will not cause any more chaos on the road and I'm also glad he's now off the streets."

After the crash PC Jones was taken to Abergavenny's Nevill Hall hospital with back injuries and was off duty for two months.

He has since made a full recovery and is back on the beat. Parfitt was told by Judge John Griffith Williams: "At the age of 25, you have one of the worst records for driving while disqualified and for dangerous driving I have come across in over 30 years in the law.

"You have been given chance after chance by the courts but nothing has stopped you re-offending." Parfitt, of Osborne Road, Brynmawr, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on PC Jones, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. The officer had been chasing a red van. When it came to a stop he tried to take the ignition keys from the driver, Parfitt.

As he did so, Parfitt put his foot on the accelerator, sending the van, with the policeman hanging onto its window, into a 20-foot ravine on the Heads of the Valleys Road near Garnlydan.

PC Jones said: "It was the most scared I have ever been in my life." The van came to a halt with the officer's legs protruding through the windscreen, prosecutor Ieuan Morris told the jury.

The officer crawled out and arrested the defendant. Parfitt was said to have 133 convictions - 29 for driving while disqualified, nine for dangerous driving and five for driving without due care and attention. He started offending at 14.

PC Jones said: "I have been an officer for 10 years and during that time Parfitt has become well-known to me as a criminal." Mr Morris told the court that the incident began at about 12.35pm on October 9. PC Jones saw Parfitt driving at speed through the centre of Ebbw Vale in a mechanically unsound van.

He accelerated away at high speed, swerving, mounting the pavement and narrowly missing vehicles in Tredegar Road. He almost hit a woman motorist. He went on the wrong side of the road and reached speeds of up to 70 mph.

He turned off the Heads of the Valleys road, went down a track but was blocked by a metal barrier. He then reversed into the police car.

Defence counsel Colin Davies said the driving was not "absolutely appalling".