Police pursued a disqualified driver for 11 miles in a high-speed chase through country roads which ended in a spectacular crash into a field.
But 22-year-old self-employed joiner Michael Manson walked away from the wreckage of his Land Rover Discovery and hid in a field as police officers hunted for him during the early hours of November 3.
However the intervention of a police dog quickly brought the search to an end and Manson was taken into custody.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, Manson, of Ross Wynd, Dingwall was jailed for nine months and banned from driving for six years. He admitted driving while disqualified and dangerously at speeds of up to 100mph from Inverness Retail Park to Clephanton, near Cawdor.
Sheriff David Sutherland was told that Manson, after speeding through built up areas in Culloden, Balloch and Sunnyside at twice the permitted speed limits, approached a junction, drove the wrong side of a traffic island and then lost control.
The silver vehicle smashed through a soil bank, demolished a fence and landed in a field near Little Kildrummie Farm.
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The Sheriff told him: “If someone had been coming in the opposite direction, you would have killed them. Behaviour like this cannot be dealt with by any way other than a custodial sentence.”
He backdated it to November 5 when Manson first appeared in court.
Fiscal depute Fiona Murray told the court that police had received a tip-off that disqualified Manson was in the Land Rover.
Officers traced him to the Inverness Retail Park in Eastfield Way. But when he saw the two marked vehicles approaching, he sped off.
Manson ignored the flashing blue lights and sirens and his speed increased from 60mph to 80mph and then to 100mph as he passed through three different housing estates in to the B9091.
“He failed to negotiate a bend, drove the wrong way round a traffic island, mounted a kerb, on to a soil bank, through a fence and into a field.” Mrs Murray added.
Defence lawyer Rory Gowans said: “He has a history of driving while disqualified and he can’t explain why he makes these impulsive decisions.
“He tells me he became frustrated that he had to turn down work, was depressed and took the Discovery for a drive to clear his head.
“Then the presence of the police vehicles panicked him. He fully expects a prison sentence.”
