A DANGEROUS driver who was “lucky to escape with his life” after crashing his car during a high-speed police chase on the A12 has been jailed.

Matthew Saunders, 33, took his ex-partner’s car from outside her Colchester home on August 31 last year.

Ipswich Crown Court heard an argument had broken out after Saunders returned to her home from the pub late in the evening.

A jury was told Saunders “rained down blows” to his former partner’s face after the row turned violent.

Hugh Vass, prosecuting, said the woman fled to a neighbour’s home, where she called the police.

The court heard an officer who later arrived at the scene saw a purple bruise on the woman’s chin.

Read more: Dangerous driver 'lucky to be alive' after crashing car during high-speed chase

Mr Vass said: “While she was calling the police, she heard an engine being revved.

“Soon after, she discovered her car had been taken by the defendant.

“He had no right to take it, no permission to take it and no driving licence to drive it.

“There was in due course a high-speed chase along the A12, which ended in a serious collision.

“The car was a write-of and he was lucky to be alive.”

But the court heard Saunders claimed he “did not lay a finger” on the complainant.

In police interview he instead asserted he had been the victim of an assault, carried out by his ex-partner, who he claimed was wielding a table leg.

Saunders told officers he dodged the table leg when it was thrown at him and it struck a television screen, causing it to crack.

He also said his former partner had assaulted him a few days prior to the incident, again with a table leg.

A jury of six men and women cleared Saunders of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

He admitted dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking.

Saunders, of Saxon Gardens, Shoeburyness, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment and banned from driving for 25 months.

He was also hit with an indefinite restraining order, banning Saunders from contacting his ex-partner.

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