A LIFELONG criminal with an "invidious" record was in a car which almost rammed two of TV's Police Interceptors off a 66ft flyover.

PCs Anthony Cairns and Paul Faulkner told how they thought they would die as their BMW X5 was smashed into the railings at almost 80mph by a Ford Focus being driven by Terry Smith, 28, and carrying Dale Carter, 26, as they fled a robbery.

Carter, who has 41 convictions for 118 offences, has spent almost as much time in jail as he has out and his entire life has been documented in police mugshots from the age of 13.

The two officers - who have both appeared in the Channel 5 show - were trying to stop the duo after Carter mugged a 51-year-old mum in Guisborough, dragging her along the ground outside her home after tailing her from a cash point.

Smith sped off with Carter towards Teesside in his Ford Focus but his number plate was picked up by the cops.

They tried to stop Smith leaving the Tees Flyover, a viaduct over railway lines, but Smith was determined to flee.

Video footage from a police car behind theirs shows Smith swerve several times towards the police BMW before he twists the wheel to the left and sends it hurtling into the barriers.

Miraculously the barrier held and the wrecked car containing the two injured officers bounced back into the carriageway.

In a statement, PC Cairns told Teesside Crown Court: "It was a callous, cowardly and deliberate act to cause harm to myself and my colleague.

"we were hurtling towards the barrier at over 70mph at the highest point of the flyover and I thought I was going to die. I have two children aged seven and nine who were almost without a father."

PC Faulkner, a regular on Police Interceptors, suffered a wrist injury and is still off work following the collision on December 22.

In his statement, he said he had been "a seasoned cop for 14 years" but had been left with only two thirds of his grip capacity because of ligament damage.

He said: "I have been left snappy and irritable, suffering claustrophobia and vivid nightmares about what happened that night.

"I have started driving short distances but even travelling at 30pmh seems like I'm travelling too fast and I realise that I try to avoid travelling over the flyover.

"I have come across all manner of injuries and assaults but this one could have been fatal to ourselves or members of the public."

Prosecutor Paul Abrahams said: "The impact caused the police vehicle to lose control at about 80 mph.

"The impact occurred at the highest point of the flyover which is 66ft. Mercifully, it was at an upright point which perhaps prevented the vehicle from going off the road.

"The impact pushed out part of the metal barrier and left debris across the Tees Flyover."

Carter, of Middlesbrough, admitted robbery and was jailed for three and a half years while Smith, also of Middlesbrough, admitted robbery, an unconnected burglary and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the two officers. He burst into tears as he was sent to prison for nine and a half years.ik

The conviction is Carter's 41st and even his own barrister could not disguise his record, which began aged 13 when he was given an ASBO for terrorising his Middlesbrough estate.

Lawyer Chris Morrison said: "Much has been said about his record and it is an invidious one. It may be substantial but the vast majority of the offences that appear on it were committed a long time ago for a man of 26. The offences began when he was in fact half his present age.

"There are now signs he wishes to work and to grow up, there has been an attempt to man up."

Nigel Soppitt, for the sobbing Smith, said he had expressed genuine remorse and pleaded guilty at the earliest chance.

Sentencing the two, Judge Simon Bourne Arton, QC, said: "This was a determined attack to escape being pursued and to cause them injury by swerving across their path causing them to go into a crash barrier on the A19 flyover.

"Had they gone through the crash barrier they could have died or at the very least sustained life threatening injuries."

After the case, Chief Inspector Graham Milne, from the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit, said: “As police officers the public would rightly expect us to protect them, which is ultimately what we join the police service to do, however, we all expect to go to work and return home to our families at the end of each day.

“This incident could have ended tragically, at the hands of two men who desperately wanted to escape police after committing a robbery earlier in the day. Police officers are human and have families waiting for them at home just like everyone else.

“I would like to praise the two officers involved for their incredible bravery, and I would hope that the sentences handed down today stand as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to try to escape justice.”