A father of eight led police on a high-speed car chase after the death of his parrot

John Williams was taking a drive to calm down when police tried to pull him over as a brake light was not working.

But Williams, who was defended in court by Christopher Wing, put his foot down in his red Peugeot 406.

The two-mile chase at 3.30am through Portsmouth, Hants, ended with Williams, 33, smashing into a fence. Mr Wing told Portsmouth Crown Court: “On that night his parrot died. There was much trauma in the house over this death.