Worthing dangerous driver Nathan Gardner hit speeds of 133mph

Nathan Gardner was spotted by police in Littlehampton swerving across the road.

The 45-year-old from Worthing “panicked” when he saw the blue lights after a night out with a pal to watch a boxing event.

He hit speeds of 133mph in a 50mph zone and speeds of 90mph in a 30mph zone, Hove Crown Court heard.

Police said he also went through red lights during the 25-minute pursuit.

It was a night of respite from looking after his 11 children after his wife Mandy Gardner took her own life in April last year, the court heard.

The mother-of-13 had appeared alongside Gardner on TV show Extraordinary Pregnancies on the TLC channel.

Nathan Gardner with his wife Mandy

Judge Stephen Mooney said that despite Gardner now having to look after his 11 children, his driving was so poor that “any objective person would comment that that person should lose their liberty”.

He jailed Gardner for ten months.

Sophie Evans, prosecuting, said Gardner pulled out of the Shell garage in Littlehampton in the early hours of August 23 last year.

She said police had used a stop stick to puncture the tyres of the Porsche, but said Gardner carried on driving on the rim of the wheel, only slowing down when he saw a pedestrian in the road.

He was taken out of the car and put on the ground by officers, then refused to take a roadside breath test or drug swipe test.

Gardner, of The Drive, Worthing, has 15 previous convictions for 35 offences, including careless driving, failing to provide a breath test, and driving while banned.

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Greg Johnson, defending, asked for a suspended sentence and said his client “regrets” his actions.

He said Gardner is the sole carer for his 11 children after the trauma of his wife taking her own life earlier this year.

Mr Johnson said Gardner was capable of doing unpaid work, and said the reason his client did not give a breath test was because he was angry at the police for injuring him during his arrest.

Judge Stephen Mooney said the chase was “high risk” despite the time of the morning, and said Gardner had made himself a “hostage to fortune”.

He said Gardner had “compounded stupidity with stupidity” by driving off from the police dangerously.

The judge said Gardner was probably “panicking” because he was over the drink-drive limit.

Nathan Gardner was jailed over dangerous driving

He said: “You were perfectly entitled to have a night to socialise, your caring responsibilities do not preclude you of having a life of your own.

“But what you did defies belief. After driving out of the garage you decided to embark on the most appalling piece of driving. It is impossible to understand why someone could do what you did. The only conclusion is that you had a fear of being stopped because you had been drinking.

“The manner you then tried to evade the police was stupidity compounded with stupidity.

“Your panic manifested itself as a massive, unnecessary risk to everyone who had been in the area. It is a mercy that nobody was hurt and no damage was caused.”

Gardner was jailed and was given a new driving ban for three years upon release.