Dramatic moment police car flips on M5 as it pursues man with child in his vehicle

Dramatic video footage has been released of a pursuit on the M5 which ended with a dangerous driver "ramming" into a police car, causing it to flip over and catch fire.

Officers stopped Wayne Smith between junction 21 and 22 near Weston-super-Mare as he drove at speeds exceeding 90mph on 5 August last year.

He was being chased after assaulting a woman in Staffordshire and taking her child without her knowledge. Smith was not wearing a seatbelt, and the child ended up in the footwell.

Smith has now been jailed for two years and two months after he was found guilty of a number of offences.

The court was told Smith was trying to evade officers when he lost control as they were using specialist road policing tactics to box him in, and struck a marked patrol car.

The police vehicle driven by Pc Jason Smith, was hit with such force it flipped "multiple times", leaving the officer trapped inside as the car then caught fire.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told the officer, who suffered head injuries and PTSD, was lucky to have survived.

Meanwhile, the defendant's smashed-up car came to rest in a cloud of smoke and dust further down the carriageway, the court heard.

Automatic number plate recognition cameras picked up Smith's black FordFocus in Somerset heading back north on the M5 towards the Midlands when police were able to stop his car.

The child suffered minor injuries.

27-year-old Smith, from Tamworth near Birmingham was sentenced following his conviction after his trial in February of common assault, child cruelty, dangerous driving and causing actual bodily harm to the police officer.

Smith, described by his barrister as "an intelligent young man" with amasters degree in physics, was also banned from driving for three years.

He was acquitted of false imprisonment and sexual assault.