Drunk driver crashes after driving at 100mph on hard shoulder with child in car
A dangerous driver sped down the hard shoulder at more than 100mph, crashed then got out to urinate as his child fled the car.
Miley Connors, 37, raced down the M40 in a silver Mercedes-Benz SUV in December 2021 in a chase the police have described the worst they have ever seen.
Emergency services received numerous calls after other terrified drivers watched Connors drive on the motorway in Warwickshire.
He then crossed into Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, weaving in and out of traffic at high speed.
His car hit the central reservation on the Shabbington bend between junctions nine and 8A, causing it to spin and lose a tyre.
Fortunately, the car did not hit any other vehicles but the driver, Connors, continued driving to the overbridge near Worminghall, where he got out and started urinating.
A child then got out of the car and ran away up by the embankment.
Officers searched for Connors and the child, with support from the National Police Air Service, and they soon found them nearby.
Officers arrested Connors and safeguarded the child, and the defendant was charged the following day.
A jury unanimously found Connors, of Hambrook, West Sussex, guilty of one count each of dangerous driving and child neglect at Oxford Crown Court on February 16, 2024.
And he was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, at the same court on April 12.
The judge also disqualified Connors from driving for two years and he will need to pass an extended retest to get his licence back.
He was ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work, 120 days of alcohol monitoring, and an accredited thinking skills programme within 20 days, as well as paying £3,000 in a fine and costs.
Investigating officer PC Amy Boughton, of Thames Valley Police, said: ‘This was one of the worse pieces of driving I have ever seen.
‘Not only is it shocking to watch, it’s gut-wrenching to know there was a young child in that vehicle, scared and crying.
‘The child was found wet, muddy and cold, and stood over Miley Connors, who was throwing up and incapable of looking after them.
‘I can only hope that Connors take this second chance and makes recompense for the lives he could have so easily taken because of his reckless actions.’
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