A teenage driver who mowed down a young woman while fleeing police has been locked up for two years.

The woman was carried on the bonnet of the car as it careered through Keighley town centre at rush-hour.

And after she was thrown to the ground, 18-year-old Haider Mumtaz ran off, leaving her with serious injuries.

At home later, he told his sister he thought the woman might be dead.

Mumtaz, of Swallow Street, Keighley, appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday to be sentenced for causing serious injury through dangerous driving. He had admitted the offence earlier.

Prosecuting, Philip Adams said on July 23 last year, police were called to reports of a suspicious vehicle in Keighley centre. Plain-clothes officers attended but Mumtaz recognised them and drove off, encountering a patrol car, swerving and driving away at speed.

At North Queen Street, with police in pursuit, he lost control. Witnesses said the car was revving loudly and skidding. After mounting the pavement and striking a building, he hit a 22-year-old woman who was crossing the road with her boyfriend. The car carried on with her on the bonnet. When it hit a car she was thrown on to the ground. Mumtaz ran off with two men passengers.

The woman was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary with a fractured skull, bruising to the brain and other injuries.

Mr Adams said the victim still has no sense of smell and suffers headaches. Judge David Hatton QC told Mumtaz: “You drove in a wholly irresponsible manner.”

Mumtaz was sentenced to two years in a young offender institution; disqualified from driving for two years; must take a test before he can again hold a licence. He was ordered to pay £100 victim surcharge.