A DANGEROUS driver who led police on a 130mph chase along a 50mph road in a stolen car was told he could have caused a fatal crash.

Devon Evans, 21, was being chased by officers after being spotted in a BMW with cloned plates that had been stolen in Newport a few days before.

He refused to stop for them on the Hardwick roundabout in Abergavenny on July 20 and he was pursued at high speed before he abandoned the vehicle in Brynmawr.

Evans and another man were arrested near the town centre after members of the public helped the police by pointing out the direction where they’d fled.

Talia Keskin, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court: “This was a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road.

“It was prolonged dangerous driving in excess of the speed limit.”

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Evans, of Coronation Crescent, Fochriw, Caerphilly pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, handling stolen goods and driving with no insurance.

The defendant had five convictions for five offences and was in breach of a community order imposed in June for stealing a £6,500 Ford Fiesta.

Gareth Williams, mitigating, said his client had been “drifting” since a burgeoning sporting career resulted in disappointment.

His barrister told the court: “The defendant was a very promising young footballer who was in academies in England but that came to an end.

“He has lost direction.”

Mr Williams asked for the defendant’s early guilty pleas to be taken into account.

Judge Shomon Khan told Evans: “The driving as described by the prosecution is extremely concerning.

“You were driving at speed towards a roundabout. It was inherently dangerous with overtaking manoeuvres.

“There was driving at an excessive speed – 100mph on a 70mph road and then driving 130mph through a 50mph road in between vehicles and in between lanes, aggressively forcing your way through.

“People could have died. That's how dangerous driving was.

“Mercifully, nobody was injured.”

Evans was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for 23 months.

He will have to sit an extended retest if he wants to regain his licence.