Jamie Toogood, 38, of Kingower stole a friend’s BMW after getting into an argument with the man and other campers at the Loddon River near Serpentine in April last year.

Police later detected Toogood driving the stolen BMW along Pall Mall, but when they attempted to pull him over he sped off, swerving in and out of lanes and turning corners at high speed without using indicators.

The court heard that traffic was heavy at the time.

Toogood appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to charges including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, assaulting police, failing to stop on police request, theft of a motor vehicle and failing to undergo a breath test.

He returned to court yesterday for sentencing.

Leading Senior Constable Jeff Lavery, prosecuting told the court Toogood reached speeds as high as 125kmh along 60kmh residential streets.

He also ran red lights, had been drinking, and at one stage sideswiped a police van that was travelling alongside him on the Calder Highway.

Leading Senior Constable Lavery said it was beyond belief that no one was injured or killed.

“It doesn’t get more serious than this,” he told the court.

“There were a lot of people on the roads at the time . . . and to top it all off he was in a stolen vehicle and had been drinking.”

However, the court heard that Toogood was still “acquaintances” with the person whose car he stole, and he had since bought the BMW for $12,000.

Defence lawyer Luke Docherty said Toogood had been drinking heavily in the weeks before the incident following the break-up of his relationship.

He said that since the chase, Toogood had enrolled in a treatment program for his drinking but had stopped attending after losing his licence.

He asked the court to consider an intensive corrections order so Toogood could deal with those problems while serving time in the community.

Magistrate Gregory McNamara told Toogood he was extremely close to spending time behind bars.

“Your driving was absolutely appalling,” he said.

“It’s sheer luck nobody was killed or injured.”

Mr McNamara sentenced Toogood to four months’ imprisonment to be served in the community by way of an ICO.

He also fined Toogood $2000 and disqualified him from driving for two years.