The makers of Red Bull always said their popular energy drink would give you wings. But they could probably never have envisaged the effect it would have on 48-year-old Peter Edwards from Norfolk.

The makers of Red Bull always said their popular energy drink would give you wings.

But they could probably never have envisaged the effect it would have on 48-year-old Peter Edwards from Norfolk.

The King's Lynn man was jailed for four months yesterday after he slugged back a “staggering” 20 cans of the caffeine-rich drink and led police on a bizarre 50-mile car chase across Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

Norfolk Crown Court heard that his Vauxhall Frontera was seen “swerving from side to side” across the A10 and at one point drove straight over a roundabout.

At Southery, near Downham Market, police drove in front of Edwards to slow him down but he simply veered out to overtake in front of a lorry.

He was finally stopped by officers at Swaffham who deployed a stinger device to puncture his wheels.

A leading expert on sleep deprivation and the effects of energy drinks last night expressed amazement at Edwards's caffeine intake.

Speaking after the case, Professor Jim Horne, of Loughborough University, said: “This was 10 times more than we would recommend.

“It is a rather extraordinary and unique case. It is reprehensible what he did. This was a massive amount of caffeine and it would have had an extraordinary effect on him.”

Prof Horne, who as professor of psychophysiology has studied sleep deprivation for 10 years, told the EDP one or two cans of Red Bull could be useful for staying awake but it was pointless drinking 20.

He described the incident as “bizarre” and claimed he would never even test the effects of so much caffeine on an individual.

Edwards, of Wallace Close, admitted dangerous driving on March 13 last year.

He reached speeds of up to 80mph during the chase as his car passed through Littleport, in Cambridge-shire, Wormegay, near Lynn, and then went back towards Swaffham.

At one point, officers described seeing Edwards taking off his shirt and driving semi-nude.

Malcolm Robins, prosecuting, said the car veered off the road when the stingers were deployed and ended up in a ditch. Edwards was later tested and found to be free of any alcohol or drugs.

David Bird, in mitigation, said the 48-year-old's mother had died of cancer just two weeks before the chase and Edwards had been suffering from severe depression.

He was also said to have had a history of mental illness.

“It was in the early hours of the morning,” he said.

“He had been drinking cans of Red Bull as he was ferrying members of his family to various parties during the night and had consumed the drink to stay awake.”

Judge Simon Barham banned Edwards from driving for four years and ordered him to take an extended test before he could drive again.

He said: “It will be a short sentence but it has to be custody because this driving was so serious everyone has to understand that whatever the mitigation, a person who behaves in this way will go to prison.”

Insp Paul Rush, of Western Area Road Policing, praised his officers after the case had finished.

“Over the course of more than an hour, Mr Edwards failed to stop for police - his driving was reckless,” he said.

“It's a credit to the police officers involved that this incident was brought to a safe conclusion with no one having been seriously injured.”

The makers of Red Bull were yesterday unavailable for comment.