A man with a “catalogue of drugs” in his system led police on a high-speed chase as he mounted pavements and drove on paths.

Lewis Andrews, 35, ignored police for around 30 minutes as he drove from Allington Lane and through Southampton before he was caught in Romsey.

He dashed from his white transit van and fled into the back garden of a property.

A video of the chase in the early hours of February 16 was shown to Southampton Crown Court on Monday.

Andrews was seen driving erratically as he tried to evade officers, cutting bends, going the wrong way on roundabouts and dashing through red lights.

At one time he was recorded driving at 80mph through a 30mph area, said prosecutor Nicola Sully.

Passing sentence, Recorder Barry McElduff said: “Your driving was truly appalling. If this had happened during the daytime, the risk you would have posed would have been high.

“Your decision making was undoubtedly impacted by the catalogue of drugs you had taken.”

Andrews had been pulled over by police in Allington Lane as they noticed one of his taillights was not working.

“He behaved in a lightly odd manner and had a shaky voice, before he admitted he had smoked cannabis”, she told the court.

He handed over a container full of herbal cannabis, but quickly fled when officers asked to do a drugs test.

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Ms Sully said: “The defendant made a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road, and there was a prolonged course of dangerous driving.

“He was twice the legal limit for cannabis, five times the limit for benzoylecgonine (cocaine break down product) and four times the legal limit for cocaine.”

Andrews, of Portland Road, Bishopstoke, admitted dangerous driving, drug driving, and obstructing a police officer.

Mitigating, Christopher Wing said it was an “appalling piece of driving” by Andrews, but added: “He is a hardworking person who made the wrong decisions.”

Andrews was handed a nine-month sentence suspended for 21 months and he was banned from driving for two and a half years.

He must complete 15 rehabilitation days and 150 hours of unpaid work.