A DRUG driver travelled on the wrong side of the road and raced at 50mph in a 20mph zone through residential city streets during a high-speed police chase.  

A judge told Michelle Chapman he had winced as he watched dashcam footage of the pursuit in Newport which lasted around six minutes.

The 52-year-old defendant had taken cocaine and methadone before getting behind the wheel of a Hyundai Bayon on March 10.

Gareth James, prosecuting, said Chapman, who has 37 previous convictions for 89 offences, was followed by police after they spotted her on Chepstow Road at around 11.45pm.

She sped off to try and get away from them and travelled at 60mph in 30mph zones and went through a red light.

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The defendant travelled at 50mph in a 20mph area where there were speed bumps on the road.

“She deliberately ignored the rules of the road and was a danger to other road users,” Mr James said.

Chapman was carrying two passengers and initially tried to blame them for the chase during her police interview by lying that they had been putting their foot on the accelerator and not her.

The defendant, of Larch Grove, Malpas, Newport pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drugs.

Her previous convictions included drug supply offences, theft and she has been caught driving while disqualified on six different occasions.

Alice Sykes, representing Chapman, told Newport Crown Court: “It was an awful piece of driving and mercifully no one was injured.

“Drugs have blighted her life and have taken their toll on her.”

Her barrister added that her client was in poor health and acted as a carer for her partner and mother.

Judge Shomon Khan told Chapman: “This was a police chase for about five or six minutes late at night in the inner city and you were driving at considerable speed in a frightening way.

“Mercifully, no one died but you could have, your passengers could have, anything could have happened.

“This was a really frightening piece of driving that caused me to wince at certain points.”

He said her driving was so dangerous that he had to jail her despite there being “a lot of mitigation”.

Chapman was sent to prison for eight months and banned from driving for two years and four months.

She was told she would have to pass an extended retest if she wants to regain her driving licence.