A MAN has been jailed after deliberately crashing his car into a fellow motorist on the M6.

Neil Harrison, of Algernon Street in Fairfield, scaled a motorway bridge following the crash - shutting the carriageway for two-and-a-half hours.

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On Thursday, September 13, he was handed a year behind bars at Liverpool Crown Court.

The court heard that the 27-year-old's life 'unravelled' earlier this year after he split up from his long-term partner, leading him to begin 'self-medicating' with cocaine.

At around 6.45pm on Monday, August 6, he was driving on the M6 southbound near to junction 19 at Knutsford under the influence of the drug.

In a suicide attempt, the dad-of-two deliberately crashed into the rear of another car while travelling at 80mph through an area of the motorway where the speed limit was 50mph due to roadworks.

Harrison's car spun around before crashing into the central reservation, at which point he got out of the vehicle and climbed onto a motorway bridge.

Police officers were eventually able to talk him down from the bridge at around 9pm.

No serious injuries were sustained in the crash, but both cars were written off.

Harrison - who was involved in a serious workplace accident in 2009 and later had one of his legs amputated - admitted dangerous driving, causing a public nuisance, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

Sentencing, recorder Andrew Long said: "In the first part of 2018, your life unravelled and you decided to kill yourself by driving your car at high speed and deliberately crashing.

"Your victim was very shaken up and continues to suffer from the effects of their brush with death - it was obviously traumatic for them.

"This is a grave offence - you made a conscious decision to cause a serious collision, and you must have realised that you would cause serious injuries or possibly death to the occupants of the other car.

"The fact that no one was seriously hurt or killed is no thanks to you.

"It is heartening to know that you are getting your life back on track, and I'm also aware that you will find any prison sentence very onerous due to your disability.

"However, you are responsible for causing a grave public nuisance and clearly nothing but an immediate prison sentence of some length is justified."

Harrison, who had no previous convictions, will be disqualified from driving from driving for four years upon his release from prison and will be required to take an extended retest.

He was also ordered to pay court costs of £375.