A HOLIDAYMAKER has been jailed after he tried to outrun police in a 127mph chase on the M5 that started in Somerset.

Dean Mayo was pursued for 35 miles through Somerset and East Devon and continued to drive on flat tyres after they were punctured by a stinger device.

He stopped the Volkswagen near Junction 28 at Cullompton and fled on foot before police followed and found him hiding in bushes near the roadside. 

The car had cloned plates and he was banned from driving because of two previous dangerous driving convictions. He was also wanted by police in the Midlands for recall to prison.

The chase started near Junction 22 of the M5 at Highbridge, where police tried to stop him for the first time, and carried on at very high speeds all the way to Devon. Police recorded their own speed at 127mph at one stage, when they were not catching him.

The VW undertook other vehicles and raced along sections of the hard shoulder at 80mph in what a judge at Exeter Crown Court described as a ‘highly dangerous manoeuvre’.

Mayo, 28, of no fixed address, Birmingham, admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving while disqualified and having no insurance and was jailed for a year and four months by Judge James Adkin, who extended his existing driving ban for a year.

He told him: “You drove in a highly dangerous manner at 80 mph on the hard shoulder and 127mph on the M5. After a stinger was applied, you continued to drive on deflated tyres and eventually fled the vehicle and were arrested.”

Miss Evie Dean, prosecuting, said police were alerted to a car using cloned number plates as it headed South on the M5 at around 10.15pm om on March 22 this year. They made repeated efforts to stop it and had to chase Mayo on foot when he eventually came to a halt.

Miss Zoe Kuyken, defending, said Mayo had borrowed a friend’s car with permission and was driving to Cornwall for a holiday when he was stopped. He apologised to police at the scene.

He is now keen to rehabilitate himself in prison and hopes to start a job in the kitchens. 

The chase in Devon took place just over two months after West Midlands police issued a public appeal to trace Mayo, who had a record for assault, harassment and criminal damage and was wanted for recall to prison.