"How many people could you have killed?": Watch as firearms officers avert disaster on the M5 as fugitive knifeman arrested
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This is the moment our armed officers arrested a knifeman as he tried to drive the wrong way down the M5 after threatening a woman.
Joshua Jones was being hunted by police after making threats to a woman, who he knew, in the Halesowen area earlier in the day while armed with the Rambo-style knife.
Our firearms officers were deployed to search for him as he was armed, and the white Ford Puma car he was in was spotted off Oldbury Ringway.
It made off from officers, hitting 70mph in a 30mph zone towards junction 2 of the M5.
Footage from the National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter shows how it drove the wrong way around the roundabout and towards oncoming traffic on the slip road of the motorway.
Firearms officers made tactical contact with the vehicle to stop it from driving up the wrong side of the motorway, at around 10am on 24 May.
Jones was then arrested, and the Rambo knife recovered from the passenger seat.
Ch Insp Sinead Sweeney, head of our firearms unit, said: “This was fantastic teamwork by our officers, working closely with NPAS colleagues, who used their skills and training to bring a dangerous offender to justice.
“The consequences of Jones driving the wrong way down the motorway could have been catastrophic.
“Incidents like this just go to show the range of work that firearms officers do; from arresting those involved in gun crime, to pursing criminals armed with other deadly weapons on the roads, to supporting our neighbourhood and investigation teams.”
Last Tuesday (26 May) Jones, aged 23, of Fountain Lane, Oldbury, appeared before magistrates in Wolverhampton.
He admitted possession of a large Rambo knife, dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage to the woman’s property and using threatening language to her.
He was remanded in custody at a hearing at the city’s crown court on 23 June.