Billy Charlton sprayed by police after driving in wrong direction on A19 near Seaham

A hate speaker who was "obnoxious and abusive" when pulled over by the police for driving on the wrong side of the road has been jailed again.

William Charlton, known as Billy, was jailed for 21 months in 2019 over speeches he gave at a series of planned demonstrations in Sunderland.

He was jailed again last February, for three years, after he sent a video clip to 40 contacts over WhatsApp that featured a child having intercourse with a donkey,

Charlton had insisted he did not view the 18 second video, which featured a boy aged between 10-14 with the animal, before he forwarded it on and had no reason to suspect its contents were illegal.

Prosecutors accepted he did not gain any sexual gratification from the video but he was convicted of distributing a Category A image of a child.

Today, he has now been given another prison sentence after being convicted of dangerous driving.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Charlton was on his way home from an evening of socialising with friends in Sunderland when he was spotted on the wrong side of the A19 near Seaham, last January.

Prosecutor Matthew Simpson said that police saw him behind the wheel of a red Daihatsu and attempted to pull him over but he refused to stop and a stinger device was deployed.

Even then, Charlton failed to co-operate with officers, who had to use Pava spray to detain him following the chase, which covered around six miles.

Mr Simpson said: "As they approached the Seaham A19 turn off with Seaton Lane on the B1404 their attention was drawn to a red Daihatsu which was driving on the wrong way down the slip road off the A19, against the direction of travel.

Mr Simpson said the officers activated blue lights but Charlton, who had a passenger in the car, continued to drive.

The 58-year-old, of Barmston Court, Washington, also ignored a Highway Maintenance vehicle which indicated for him to pull over.

Mr Simpson said Charlton "disregarded police attempts to stop" him and he continued to the junction with the A1231, where more officers became involved.

The court heard after a police officer got out of the police vehicle, Charlton turned his car around and continued driving, this time in the correct direction.

He told the court: "Having exited the A19 Mr Charlton finally stopped due to the deployment of a stinger on the westbound carriageway of the A1231, this was to pierce the wheels of the vehicle, causing it to stop."

Mr Simpson said one of the officers approached Charlton's car and removed the keys from the ignition.

The officer told the court: "He was swearing at us, told us to **** off and grabbed hold of the steering wheel.

"He said he wouldn't be getting out.

"At that point a traffic officer used his Pava spray to distract the driver so he could extract him out of the driver's door."

The officer said Charlton was "obnoxious and abusive".

Charlton denied dangerous driving and said the charge was brought simply to suit the police "agenda" but was found guilty.

Defending himself at the sentence hearing today, via video-link from custody, Charlton denied being a "high risk" to the public.

He said he maintained the police had "lied" during their investigation.

Judge Julie Clemitson told him: "You inadvertently turned your Daihatsu car in the off slip so you were driving on the wrong direction towards the A19 carriageway.

"The jury must have accepted the police evidence in order to convict you of dangerous driving."

Judge Clemitson accepted there were "relatively few" road users out at the time, but said only immediate custody could be justified.

She sentenced him to ten months behind bars.

She added: "You ignored your passenger's request to pull over. When you did pull over you ignored the police officer's request to get out of the vehicle."

Charlton was also banned from driving for 17 months and must pass an extended test.