A father-of-four who jumped red lights and hit a garden wall as he sped to the bedside of his dying grandmother has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

Shaun Green was desperate to spend the last moments with the woman who had raised him but, instead, she passed away while he was in police custody, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Judge Colin Burn sentenced Green to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, for his “mad driving” on the evening of December 13 last year.

“You wanted to get back to see your grandmother, who was at the point of death, but in doing so exposed others to the same sort of risk,” the judge said.

Green, 37, of Stonegate Road, Thorpe Edge, Bradford, was brought up by his grandmother, who was 86 and suffering from cancer, his solicitor Tracey Roberts said.

Her condition was stable but she suddenly took a turn for the worse and a doctor warned that she was dying.

“All he could think about was getting to her so they could spend her last moments together,” Miss Roberts told the court.

Green was spotted by the police driving quickly along Otley Road shortly before midnight in his Ford Focus.

Prosecutor Simon Haring said he jumped a red light and sped along Idle Road at 60mph.

Green went through another red light and ignored other traffic signals as he was pursued on to Institute Road, Eccleshill, where he hit a garden wall.

He pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court to dangerous driving and driving without a full licence or insurance and was sent to the Crown Court for sentence.

Green told police his driving had been “dangerous and stupid”.

Miss Roberts said he was told by phone to get over to his grandmother’s house quickly.

She said Green was a hard working family man who had kept out of trouble for ten years.

He was very remorseful and had offered to pay for the damaged wall.

Judge Burn said jailing Green would have disastrous effects. He would lose his job and his family would be without a breadwinner.

Green was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and banned from applying for a full driving licence for two years.