A DANGEROUS driver who led police on a high speed chase which only ended when officers used a stinger device was jailed for six months.

Ryan Williams drove at around 75mph in 20mph and 30mph zones through Pengam and Pontllanfraith in the early hours of the morning.

Prosecutor Peter Donnison told Cardiff Crown Court how the 22-year-old had “panicked” when he saw a police car while driving a friend’s Audi A3 without a licence and insurance.

The pair had been at a party and Williams was at the wheel because the owner was “intoxicated”.

Judge Michael Fitton QC was told how the defendant took police on a chase of between five to seven miles before he was arrested when the stinger had shredded three of the A3’s tyres.

Williams pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.

The defendant was also being sentenced after he admitted knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited from his Volkswagen Golf when he dumped several bags of cannabis residue on November 17, 2017, at Rudry Road in Caerphilly.

He also admitted possessing cannabis and cannabis tablets, a controlled drug of class B, at his home on January 30.

Ed Mitchard, representing Williams, said the best mitigation he could put forward was that his client had pleaded guilty.

He said the defendant had experienced two family tragedies after his uncle had a suffered a fatal heart attack while a prisoner in Cardiff in 2007 and his father, Mark Williams, had passed away after contracting a flesh-eating bug at the same jail four years ago.

Mr Mitchard said he now found himself at the same prison after being sent into custody for the first time following his guilty pleas before magistrates.

His lawyer added that Williams suffers from curvature of the spine.

He told the judge: “Or, as he puts it, ‘I’m a hunchback.’”

Mr Mitchard said: “This has caused him great pain and that’s why he has taken cannabis.

“His condition has led to him being the object of public ridicule and he has found the custodial environment incredibly difficult.”

He added that his client had also been bullied at school.

Judge Fitton said as an “act of mercy” after listening to Mr Mitchard’s mitigation he would only be jailing Williams for a total of six months for the driving offences.

He told him: “It is a shorter term than I would otherwise have imposed.”

Williams, of Tan-Y-Bryn, Senghenydd, Caerphilly, was also banned from driving for 24 months and sentenced to two conditional discharges of 12 months for the waste and cannabis offences.