Watch: Drunk driver sentenced after speeding at 100mph down M40 with child in car
A man has been sentenced for dangerous driving and child neglect after being caught speeding along the hard shoulder of the M40 at more than 100mph with a child in the vehicle.
Footage showed Miley Connors, 37, speeding down the hard shoulder in a silver Mercedes-Benz SUV.
Police were called at around 4.10pm on Dec 29 2021 after numerous people spotted Connors driving on the motorway in Warwickshire. He crossed into Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, weaving in and out of traffic at high speed.
The car then hit the central reservation on the Shabbington bend between junctions nine and 8A, causing it to spin and lose a tyre.
It did not hit any other vehicles, but 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 the embankment.
Pedestrians at the bridge discovered Connors vomiting and struggling to move as the child watched. Officers arrested him and safeguarded the child, and he 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 Feb 16 this year.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, at the same court on April 12. The judge also disqualified him from driving for two years, and he will need to pass an extended re-test 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 worst 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 takes this second chance and makes recompense for the lives he could have so easily taken because of his reckless actions.”
