A dad-of-11 has been jailed after a high-speed police chase in his Porsche after a night out with a friend.

Nathan Gardner, 43, was clocked hitting speeds of up to 133mph in a 50mph zone, and led officers on a 25-minute pursuit while skipping red lights.

Police used a stop stick to puncture the tyres of the vehicle, but the driver continued on the rim of the wheel – only slowing down when he saw a pedestrian in the road.

When officers finally caught up with him in Littlehampton, West Sussex, he then refused to take a breath and drug test.

Gardner is the sole carer for the 11 children he had with wife Mandy Gardner, who took her own life in April last year.

He appeared on TV show Extraordinary Pregnancies on the TLC channel in 2016 with her.

His defence team told Hove Crown Court his night watching boxing with a friend on August 23 last year was a ‘brief respite’ from taking care of all his children, and an escape from his grief.

The Worthing resident admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop for the police and failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis at Brighton Magistrates’ Court in November.

Lawyers argued Gardner should only be given a suspended sentence due to his childcare responsibilities, but a judge jailed him for 10 months on Tuesday.

Judge Stephen Mooney said 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’.

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

He reportedly ‘panicked’ when he saw the blue lights of the police cars.

The lawyer added he was taken out of the car when finally arrested and put on the ground by officers, then refused to take a roadside breath test or drug swipe test.

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

He added Gardner was able to do unpaid work and said his client did not give a breath test because he was ‘angry’ at the police for injuring him during his arrest.

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

Sentencing him, Judge Mooney said the chase was ‘high risk’ despite the time of day, and added Gardner had made himself a ‘hostage to fortune’.

He said: ‘You were perfectly entitled to have a night to socialise, your caring responsibilities do not preclude you from 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.’

In addition to the jail term, Gardner was given a new driving ban for three years after his prison term.

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