Rotherham man jailed after high speed chase with a toddler in the back seat
A man's been sent to prison after a 150mph police chase, with an "hysterical" toddler in the back seat of his car.
Officers were shocked to discover an "hysterical" three year-old girl in the back of a drug dealer's car - after it was stopped following a 40-mile long, 150mph police chase.
Police stopped Thomas Birkbeck's Audi A4 at Boston Spa, in North Yorkshire, following a chase up the A1(M) to Scotch Corner and then back down the opposite carriageway.
Helicopter footage of the pursuit shows how the car crashed into several vehicles on the motorway as it swerved from lane to lane.
Birkbeck, who's 31 and from Dinnington in South Yorkshire, appeared before a judge at York Crown Court on Friday. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
A large amount of cannabis was found in the vehicle when it was stopped after the high-speed pursuit.
Birkbeck admitted dangerous driving and other offences, including possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
Traffic Sergeant Julian Pearson described his shock after finding the girl in the Audi:
It was chilling, upsetting and ... just the sheer thought that had that vehicle crashed that child would have died. And, could I have lived with myself knowing that?''