An Amazon worker who drove 'insanely' for almost seven miles through the Cotswolds at speeds reaching 115mph in a bid to escape police has been spared jail by a judge.

When a police patrol officer signalled learner driver Madalin Zaharenco, 22, to stop he panicked and put his foot down because he had only a provisional licence and was not being supervised, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Zaharenco, a Romanian, was told by Judge Ian Lawrie KC that his "appalling, crazy, insane and idiotic" driving on March 21st this year - which included exceeding 100mph in busy Cirencester town centre - could easily have killed his woman passenger and other road users.

Dad of one Zaharenco, of Hylder Close, Swindon, admitted driving dangerously in his Audi A6 car in Cirencester and not having a valid licence.

He was sentenced to a two-year community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity days. He was also banned from driving for two years and ordered to pay £340 costs within two months. He will have to take a driving re-test before he can have a licence again.

Judge Lawrie KC told him: "You merit custody but a community order is far more constructive in trying to help you to make sure you don't commit offences like this again. Also, I don't see why at your tender age it (a prison term) should stalk you for the rest of your life. A suspended prison sentence on your record would make you unemployable."

Prosecutor Edward Hollingsworth told the court that at midday on March 21st Pc Joshua Norris was driving an unmarked police car on the A417 dual carriageway at Daglingworth, near Cirencester, when he saw Zaharenco's car and suspected it was exceeding the 70mph limit.

The officer kept pace with the Audi for almost two miles and saw that its average speed was 94mph, said the prosecutor.

"Pc Norris then intended to stop the Audi but was unable to do so immediately as it went on accelerating to a speed in excess of 115mph."

The officer then put up a sign saying 'Police, follow me' and at first Zaharenco complied and followed him off the A417 - but then began to speed off.

Mr Hollingsworth continued "A police pursuit ensued with blue lights and sirens on. They were on a single track road with a 60mph limit. The road was wet and it was raining. There were a number of blind corners on the road.

"The officer kept a safe distance behind and was doing 70mph but was not able to match the speed of the Audi. The pursuit then entered a 30mph zone but the Audi was doing at least 60mph.

"It was a rural, village location and had there been any horses, cyclists or children around the consequences could have been fatal.

"The chase continued and the driver ignored all posted speed limits. He drove on the wrong side of the road on blind bends and could have had a head-on collision with any oncoming traffic.

"When they reached another 60mph limit he was doing 80mph and this was now on the approach into the town of Cirencester itself.

"As the pursuit approached Gloucester Road the Audi braked slightly but then pulled out of a T-junction in excess of 60mph. He narrowly avoided a collision with a van which could not take evasive action in time.

"The Audi then reached 100mph in a 40mph zone, overtaking other vehicles and nearly colliding with oncoming traffic. In Abbey Way the defendant drove on the wrong side of a Keep Left bollard. He accelerated through a junction at 70mph and then in Grove Lane he reached 100mph in a 40mph zone.

"He went over a roundabout towards London Road while undertaking a number of vehicles before being held up by members of the public - this was midday in Cirencester centre.

"He carried on towards Bristol Road and the town centre. He was doing in excess of 103mph at this time.

"He failed to give way to a Land Rover coming from the right and nearly collided with it.

"Finally, in Hammond Way, he came to a stop. He effectively gave up at that stage. The pursuit had gone on for 6.8 miles.

"In the car he had a female passenger who was herself only a learner driver so could not have been supervising him. As a provisional licence holder himself he was therefore driving without a valid licence.

"When the defendant was arrested for dangerous driving he said he had not stopped for the police because he only had a provisional licence

"His saliva was tested at the roadside and was positive for cannabis. There was a cannabis grinder in the car.

"He was taken into police custody and in an interview he said that when he saw the police vehicle he panicked. He said he had never been in that situation before and he failed to stop because he did not have a licence. "

Mr Hollingsworth said Zaharanco had no previous criminal convictions of any kind.

Chris Pembridge, for Zaharenco, said: "He expresses his remorse, his sincere apologies, for what happened and for his actions which were, on any account, a catastrophic lack of judgement."

Judge Lawrie responded: "An insane lack of judgement! It would have been just a modest fine and a few points on his licence if he had just stopped and not driven for six miles putting lives at risk."

Mr Pembridge said Zaharenco's behaviour was triggered by 'a mixture of youth, naivety and panic.'

"Yes, he has got himself into a lot more trouble than he would have done if he had stopped," he conceded.

"His driving was bad - double the speed limit at times. I accept it is luck rather than judgement that things are not worse but thankfully there was no collision, no-one was hurt, and ultimately he had the sense to pull over after a six-mile chase. "

Mr Pembridge said Zaharenco's partner, with whom he has a 14-month-old child, has been a full driving licence holder for about ten years.

Zaharenco works at Amazon in Swindon five days a week and his partner has a weekend job so they share childcare and she would be in great difficulties and might have to give up work if he went to jail, added the barrister.

The judge told Mr Pembridge he was not going to pass a prison term - but he was going to make Zaharenco realise what custody would be like by sending him down to the smallest cell beneath the Crown Court for a few hours to reflect on his offending.

"The cell really is very small - it probably breaches the Human Right Act but it was built before that was passed," he said. "He needs to understand and appreciate where he could be. "

The judge said he intended Zaharenco to be locked up for three hours and to be returned to court for sentence at 2pm after the lunch adjournment. Mr Pembridge asked if three hours was really necessary for the cell to have an impact on Zaharenco and suggested it should be just one hour of confinement.

Judge Lawrie then agreed to sentence Zaharenco an hour earlier.

Sending him down to the cells the judge told him "The officer will take you downstairs and put you in a very small room. The reason I am doing that is to teach you a lesson.

"For the couple of hours you are down there in that very small room reflect on the following: you put the security and safety of your partner and your child at risk - worse than that, by idiotic driving over six miles an extraordinary speeds you could easily have caused a collision and the serious injury or death of your passenger and other road users. You would then have been in prison for a long time.

"I am finding it hard to understand, despite the eloquent expressions of your advocate, why someone who is quite intelligent and ordinarily responsible drives and behaves in the most insanely stupid way."

Later, when Zaharenco emerged from the cells to be sentenced, the judge asked him how he felt after the brief custody experience.

"I realise how much problems I am causing my family by my stupidity, because of my actions," he said. "I cannot say what happened with me at that moment on the road to be honest. I cannot describe myself, how I was. I never had any interaction with the police before. I was just scared."

The judge said: "Hopefully you will not make spectacularly stupid errors of judgement again. If you are ever tempted to make such an error again just think of that small room downstairs."

He added: "I am treating this as an aberration of judgement by you, putting everyone at risk, but I still cannot fathom why you did it, apart from absolute stupidity. You drove a significant distance at high speed and you ignored police instructions to stop. You put lots of people at risk of harm or, indeed, death."