A judge has described a car crook who led police on a high-speed chase through residential streets as behaving like a "complete and utter lunatic" behind the wheel.
Alexander Paul Griffiths was driving a BMW wanted by police in connection with a ram raid when he raced along Swansea roads in the middle afternoon at speeds touching 80mph, causing at least two other vehicles to crash and narrowly missing a cyclist.
He even raced through a car park in an attempt to get away from the pursuing officer.
The judge said the maximum sentence available for his offending was two years - a term he described as "wholly inadequate". With the obligatory one-third discount for a guilty plea Griffiths was sentenced to 16 months, of which he will serve eight months behind bars.
His Honour said there may come a time when the authorities will have to consider whether the sentence for dangerous driving was long enough to deter those who put the lives of other road users - and police officers - at risk.
Swansea Crown Court heard the pursuit involving Griffiths took place on the afternoon of April 30 this year.
Helen Randall, prosecuting, said around 4pm South Wales Police constable Emma Thomas was in the Penlan area of Swansea searching for a BMW on false number plates believed to be linked to a ram raid in Neath.
As the officer drove along Heol Gwyrosydd she spotted the car on Heol Cadifor - the Beamer responded by reversing away "at speed" from the patrol car along the side street. The officer turned around and followed, and a pursuit lasting more than three miles started.
The court heard Griffiths touched speeds of 80mph as he drove through Penlan, Treboeth, Brynhyfryd, and Manselton, overtaking on corners, going the wrong way around mini-roundabouts, and racing through red lights. At one stage he narrowly missed a cyclist.
His driving caused two vehicles to take evasive action and collide, and at Brynhyfryd Cross he drove at speed through a car park to try to escape from the pursuing officer.
Eventually he raced up Llangyfelach Road to Clase before abandoning the car on a lane near Clase Social Club, and taking to his heels.
Miss Randall said the pursuing officer went after Griffiths on foot, and he was arrested a short time later in the nearby Welcome Inn pub .
In his subsequent interview the defendant claimed somebody else had been driving the BMW, and he had been the passenger - but had been hiding in the footwell of the vehicle so the police hadn't seen him.
Griffiths, of Carlton Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He has 35 previous convictions for 123 offences including for vehicle taking, aggravated vehicle taking, interfering with vehicles, being carried in stolen vehicles, handling stolen goods, thefts, and burglary. He has been caught driving while disqualified on 13 previous occasions, and has two convictions for dangerous driving.
In August of last year the dad-of-two young sons was sentenced to a total of 16 months prison after he and an accomplice who he had met in drug rehab were caught red-handed on a quiet residential street in Neath with an "array of tools" for breaking into cars, including bolt cutters, screwdrivers, gloves, keys, and a scanning device that can be plugged into vehicles to access their onboard computers, and deactivate alarms.
Tom Trobe, for Griffiths, read out a letter written to the court by the defendant. In the note Griffiths said he had a "bad addiction to drugs" which had "eaten me up inside and made me do things I didn't want to do". He said he is "not a heartless person" and was trying to change, but was caught in a "vicious circle of drugs, crime and prison" and was "truly sorry".
Judge Geraint Walters told Griffiths that at a time when most decent people were abiding by the government lockdown restrictions he had been out and about in a car wanted by the police, and engaging in a "catch and mouse game" with officers which put other people's lives in danger. He described the defendant as a "career criminal who, at heart, is completely lawless".
He said the defendant had driven like a "complete and utter lunatic" on the day in question, and it was nothing but "pure luck" that he was not in the dock facing a sentencing for killing someone.
The judge said the maximum two year sentence which is available for the offence of dangerous driving is, in his view, "wholly inadequate", and that there may come a time when the authorities will look at whether such a sentence is sufficient to deter people from driving in a way that endangers life.
He said: "The public are rightly fed-up with it. The maximum sentence I can impose is two years - I would like to make it longer."
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Giving the defendant a one-third discount for his guilty pleas he sentenced him to 16 months prison for dangerous driving, and to three months for driving while disqualified - the sentences will run concurrently making an overall sentence of 16 months. Griffiths will serve up to a half of that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
He was further disqualified from driving for five years, a ban to start at the half way point of his sentence and he must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.
