A reckless man who grabbed the steering wheel and handbrake of his girlfriend's car on a motorway during a row, causing it to flip over, has escaped a jail sentence.

Darren Pike pulled at the steering wheel of the Kia Picanto as his distraught girlfriend, Lynn Cakebread, screamed in terror.

The couple, who met three months earlier through a dating agency, were driving home from an airport in the early hours of November 8, 2015, after a holiday.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 52-year-old crane driver was upset at feeling rebuffed by his partner on the trip and became angry when she told him she wanted to see her family.

Pike grabbed the steering wheel three times and pulled on the handbrake at speed, causing the car to swerve across the coastbound carriageway of the M26 at Wrotham. Miss Cakebread, who threatened to call the police, lost control of the car and it flipped over on the roof.

"That's what happens when you say you will call the police" - Pike, to Miss Cakebread

As they lay – amazingly not seriously injured – in the damaged car, unrepentant Pike told her: “That’s what happens when you say you will call the police.”

Pike, of Beech Road, East Malling, admitted causing danger to road users and was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 200 hours unpaid work.

Judge Jeremy Carey was told he had three previous convictions for assaulting former partners. He punched one in the face and grabbed her by the throat. The judge described the relationship as “somewhat torrid and unhappy”.

He said: “You effectively did on that day what you have done in the past – to lose your self-control.”

Tom Stern, defending, said Pike acted in “a moment of madness” but did not mean to injure Miss Cakebread.

He said Pike had struggled since his father and brother were killed in accidents and he had suffered paranoia.

Because Pike was a named driver on Miss Cakebread’s insurance and he admitted liability, the company refused to pay out. The judge ordered him to pay her £13,000 compensation. He will also have to pay £750 court costs.

Pike will be restricted under a three-month tagged curfew between 8pm and 4am.

A three-year restraining order banning him from contacting Miss Cakebread was also imposed.