A MOTORIST who crashed a Ford Ka into a lamppost after a police chase then tried to swallow a heroin-filled Kinder egg.

David McGowan, 35, of Mossfield Court, Bolton, was behind the wheel of the stolen Ford Ka when police spotted it on St George's Road and followed it onto Beaconsfield Street, Bolton, around 3.45pm on Sunday September 1, 2019.

At this point two passengers got out of the car and police asked McGovern to turn the car off and get out but he kept edging it forward before reversing and speeding into Gibraltar Street.

During a high-speed chase that lasted over six minutes officers pursued the stolen vehicle along several roads, including Ellesmere Street, Park Road, Chorley New Road and Nottingham Drive before the car crashed into a lamppost on Brownlow Way.

The car had been stolen the day before the chase, however, McGowan was not charged with this.

Bolton Crown Court heard that McGowan led police down residential roads with a speed limit of 30 miles per hour at 70 miles per hour, putting peoples' lives at risk.

After crashing the car he tried to swallow a Kinder Egg which he was made to hand over to police, which turned out to have heroin inside, which the court heard was for personal use.

Prosecuting, David James, said that McGowan had "numerous convictions for 43 offences" with the latest having been in 2017.

Mr James added: "He turned into the path of other vehicles causing at least three to break to avoid collision. Driving through a narrow gap in a wall over a footpath to join another road causing the rear of the car to bounce up quite violently.

"The pursuit ended when he lost control of the vehicle and collided with a speed change sign in a residential street."

McGowan pleaded guilty to possession of Class A drugs and dangerous driving.

Rebecca Filletti, defending, said: "McGowan has come to court today extremely scared, vociferous in his apologies and regret, he's taking it extremely seriously.

"His drug addiction is the primary reason for the offending and at this stage too he had just found out about his grandad's death which led to drug abuse.

"He hasn't got in any more trouble since this offence and managed to stay from drugs demonstrating a real behaviour shift."

The court also heard that McGowan's mother has custody of his three daughters and he has now built a good relationship with them.

Ms Filletti said: "This is the central part of his world now and he is really making the effort to be a better parent".

Recorder Abigail Hudson agreed that McGowan had made significant strides since the offence in terms of keeping out of trouble and away from drugs as well as building a relationship with his family.

But she told him: "You're driving was appalling, you went through red lights, you caused other vehicles to take evasive action.

"The drug issue is a relatively minimal matter compared to the dangerous driving, but dangerous driving in my judgement does pass custody threshold. This was serious and prolonged dangerous driving.

"It was 3.45pm on a Sunday afternoon and you put road users and pedestrians at significant risk. Anybody could have jumped out from those parked cars and they wouldn't have stood a chance. You are not a man of good character."

Ms Hudson acknowledged that the offence was more than 18 months ago but was still concerned that he did not accept responsibility for what he did, despite being aware he was breaking the law and trying to avoid arrest.

Ms Hudson sentenced McGowan to 13 months in prison suspended for two years.

He was also given a four-month curfew and ordered to participate in 15 days of rehabilitation activities.