180 mph super car getaway driver jailed for nine years

A driver linked to smash and grab raids in Shropshire who led police on a 180mph chase has been jailed for nine years.

Ben Westwood, a 33-year-old car trader from Woden Road in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, reached speeds of 180mph at the wheel of a stolen specially-modified £85,000 Audi RS5 as he outpaced the police helicopter while hurtling north along the M6 towards Stafford on January 13.

He then doubled back to Wolverhampton and dumped the car in Wednesfield, following a 65-mile chase before being traced to his flat in nearby Lathe Court.

Westwood was linked to over a dozen smash and grab raid throughout the Midlands with the stolen Audi in which around £50,000 worth of cigarettes were stolen together with jewellery and cash, including raids in Market Drayton.

He was fleeing from a bungled attempt to cut open an ATM cash machine filled with £21,000 on the forecourt of the Murco garage in Penn, Wolverhampton.

Prosecutor Mr Stefan Kolodynski said: "Westwood was the leader of the gang, as yet untraced, involved in these high-value commercial burglaries."

The face of Westwood was captured on CCTV when his hood was pulled off after snagging it on a piece of metal during a raid.

He had a string of previous convictions and detectives recognised him from the picture.

Westwood was chased as police swooped on a gang involved in the bungled bid to steal from the ATM machine at Penn. Three of them – Luke Watkins, 34, Ramesh

Sharma, 38, and 41-year-old Stephen Green – were in a van with the oxyacetylene cutting gear in the back and were arrested almost immediately.

But Westwood sped off in the Audi with 26-year-old Greg Simpson in the passenger seat and headed for the M6. Westwood was found guilty of conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to steal and dangerous driving at an earlier trial.

The other four men in the dock with Westwood either admitted or were found guilty of conspiracy to steal but only involved in the Penn garage ATM attempted cash theft.

They received a total of 15 years in prison between them.