Darryl Clarke jailed for 15 months for dangerous driving

Darryl Clarke overtook vehicles on blind bends, jumped red lights, and collided with at least one other car as he tried to make his getaway.

Police reached speeds of up to 80mph as they pursued him through the city, Southampton Crown Court was told.

The chase eventually ended when they came face to face with him as he drove the wrong way around a roundabout above the M27. They rammed his vehicle, shunting it sideways across the road.

Clarke and his two passengers scrambled out of the badly damaged car and ran off.

Dashcam footage shown in court captured the moment the defendant sped off after being pulled over on February 14 2025.

During the ensuring chase, he squeezed between other cars, overtook a vehicle as it turned right, and narrowly avoided a head-on collision with a learner driver.

Clarke narrowly avoided a head-on crash with a learner driver (Image: Hampshire Constabulary)

Adam Cooper, prosecuting, said: "When it came to the final part, the car went the wrong way around a roundabout.

"Officers felt it would be too dangerous to follow him and went the right way around. They made contact with the car to protect the public from any further dangerous driving."

Mr Cooper said Clarke had several previous convictions and was on licence from prison when he committed the new offence.

Eve Shelley, mitigating, said: "He panicked after being stopped by police and drove away - a decision he regrets hugely.

"He is remorseful. He has an insight into the effect of his offending on the other people involved."

The route taken by Clarke as he tried to outrun police included Bursledon Road and the Charles Watts Way roundabout, where the chase ended.

Clarke was rammed off the road by police (Image: Hampshire Constabulary)

Judge Keith Cutler, who described the defendant's driving as "appalling", told him: "If you had been walking along with children, you would have had a few things to say about the danger they had been exposed to.

"Over a prolonged period, you drove at excessive speed, overtook on blind bends, went through red lights, and struck a stationary vehicle."

The judge said the car was driven in a manner that endangered the public "in a particularly serious way".

Clarke, 36, of Mercury Close, Southampton, was jailed for 15 months for dangerous driving as well as being banned from the roads for two years and seven months.

There were no separate penalties for failing to stop after an accident, falling to report an accident, driving without insurance and driving without a licence. He pleaded guilty to all the offences.