A BANNED driver led police on a 20-mile chase from Gloucestershire to Wiltshire, ignoring his pregnant girlfriend’s pleas to stop, because he was worried officers would take his bulldog.

Jamie Sharman-Palmer, who has never passed his driving test and has seven offences of disqualified driving on his record, ignored her repeated requests for him to pull over.

But the 32-year-old wept in the dock as he admitted dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and breaching a community order.

Remanding him in custody to appear before Swindon Crown Court for sentence, District Judge Joanna Dickens said: “You seem prepared to put your partner and your unborn child in extreme danger to avoid the police.”

Earlier, prosecutor Keith Ballinger told Swindon Magistrates’ Court that officers from Avon and Somerset Police had passed Sharman-Palmer’s Renault Clio on the M5 and M4 Almondsbury interchange at around 10.30pm on Monday, March 1.

The car was going at around 40mph to 45mph and checks by the police officers suggested it was uninsured.

The police slowed down and, eventually, the officers’ car was overtaken by the Clio. They activated their blue lights in an attempt to get the Renault to stop.

Sharman-Palmer put his foot down, hitting speeds of between 100mph and 110mph, then turned off at Junction 18.

He sped through a red light at the roundabout then hit 70mph on the A46 to Bath. The driver ignored 40mph signs and overtook on a bend.

The Renault headed towards Corsham, going through further red lights.

Eventually, police units deployed a stinger device and Sharman-Palmer fled on foot, leaving behind his six-month pregnant girlfriend. A police dog found him hiding in a garden a short distance away.

Mr Ballinger said Sharman-Palmer told the officers interviewing him “I’m guilty” as soon as he sat down. He said he bought the car for £350 on Facebook a week or two earlier and registered it in another name.

The defendant told police he’d been arguing with his girlfriend and had taken a wrong turning. He ignored repeated requests from her to stop the car. “He said the police car was pushing him along.”

Sharman-Palmer, of Dicketts Road, Corsham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving with no insurance. He had seven previous convictions for driving whilst disqualified, was convicted of dangerous driving in 2012 and had an offence on his record for aggravated vehicle taking from 2005.

Ann Ellery, mitigating, said her client had an American bulldog in his car and panicked because he thought the animal would be taken away by police. The dog had been assessed as "okay", she said – adding that her client hadn’t been thinking.

“He’s a man who doesn’t really think through things before he acts,” the solicitor said.

Sharman-Palmer did not work. He and his partner were expecting the birth of their firstborn in three months’ time.

District Judge Dickens said the matter was so serious it had to be sent to the crown court. The defendant was lucky there had not been fatalities.

He was remanded in custody to appear before Swindon Crown Court on a date to be fixed.