A Margate father broke down in tears in court after whispering “I love you” to the mother of his three children.

Minutes later Carl Clarke, 31, waved goodbye to his family after being jailed for 15 months for offences committed in breach of suspended sentences.

Clarke, of Taddy Gardens, had admitted two charges of possessing drugs, driving dangerously and other motoring offences.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how the banned driver lost control of a Ford Ka in Victoria Road, Margate in April.

Richard Scott, prosecuting, told how the Ford was driven by Clarke, pictured right, without insurance or a licence, at up to 60mph down a one-way street in the wrong direction.

Witnesses told how it narrowly missed a car turning into the road before fish-tailing, careering into a car which was shunted into another vehicle before the Ford hit another car parked on the opposite side of the road.

Mr Stott said Clarke, who days earlier had been arrested carrying amphetamines and cannabis in Tomlin Drive, Margate, then ran away.

Police later found his DNA in blood on the Ford’s windscreen and he was later arrested.

His lawyer, Kerry Waitt, said: “Mercifully no-one other than Mr Clarke was injured in the crash and he went to the QEQM Hospital where he was treated for a head injury.

“He was breathalysed but the test proved negative.”

Judge Simon James banned him from driving for two years and ordered it to begin after he is released from the jail sentence.”