Driver jailed for ramming police cars

A driver has been jailed for ramming two police cars when they tried to stop him as he and friend made a drugs run.

Christopher Edmondson nudged one car out of the way to escape being boxed in on the M5 at Cullompton, as he drove at 80mph to Plymouth.

He hit a second police car after being stopped by a stinger device which deflated his tyres and brought his Ford Fiesta to a stop.

Officers saw packages being thrown out of the window during the 100 mph chase and later found £2,440 worth of crack cocaine hidden inside passenger Sean Dickinson's body.

Edmondson was already facing a charge of dangerous driving at the time after trying to outrun police in the centre of Liverpool five weeks earlier.

25-year-old Edmondson from Plymouth denied dangerous driving on the M5, but was convicted following trial.

He admitted dangerous driving in Liverpool and was jailed for a total of 23 months and banned from driving for the a year by Recorder Mr Paul Grumbar at Exeter Crown Court.

Edmondson was intercepted by police between junctions in an intelligence led drugs operation as he sped down the M5 between junctions 28 and 27.

A police helicopter filmed from above as three police cars blocked him in at 80mph but he pushed one out the way and accelerated away before being stopped by a stinger device.

Edmondson tried to drive on but was boxed in again and a second collision took place before he and Dickinson were arrested.

He claimed he did not realise the cars which were chasing him were police vehicles, even though at least one had its blue lights illuminated.

Dickinson, aged 27, of Francis Street, Plymouth, admitted possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and breach of a community order and was jailed for a total of three years at Exeter Crown Court in April last year.