A mother has spoken of the horrifying moment she was forced to shield the baby in her arms as an out-of-control car went crashing through the front of her house as it was chased by police.

Tammy Virr, 37, had just picked up Wyatt, 17 months, because he had woken after sleeping in the lounge of their home in Reevy Road West, Buttershaw, when the Rover driven by a teenager smashed into their home.

She instinctively turned to protect her child as bricks and rubble collapsed into the room, but she believes they were saved by the house design because a downstairs toilet provided a buffer between the impact and the room where they were.

The driver Shane O'Neill, who was uninsured and had not passed a driving test, fled the scene but was later detained by police and was yesterday sentenced to eight months custody.

But the traumatic incident, which forced the family out of their home for seven weeks while builders repaired the damage, is still having an impact.

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"I have not slept since it happened," said Tammy, "Every time I hear a car coming around the corner there is fear and it will take some time to get used to it again.

"When my son is in the hall, I run to get him away, it is silly things like that.

"At the time, I was just screaming and my son was just looking at me. He now has night terrors and we don't know if that is the cause of it.

"When it happened it was mid-day and I thought it was an earthquake. My son had woken up seconds before it happened and I went to pick him up.

"The impact knocked the wall down and there was smoke from the engine, dust and house bricks coming through. I just stood with my back to the door to try to protect my son, I don't know if anything hit me because I was so shocked."

O'Neill, 19, of Parkwood Rise, Keighley, abandoned his 16-year-old girlfriend in the stricken car and she was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for health checks after the impact.

Bradford Crown Court was told the damage cost thousands of pounds to repair and O'Neill pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving unsupervised, having no insurance and failing to stop for the police at about 11.20am on January 11.

Prosecutor Dave McKay said police on patrol in Bradford city centre saw O’Neill turn the wrong way out of Bridge Street.

He was pursued along Little Horton Lane after pushing his way through two lines of traffic and crossing a red light.

He drove at up to 60mph in a 30mph zone, causing other vehicles to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

O’Neill lost control of the car, which he told police had been bought shortly before the incident, and crashed into the house.

In mitigation, O’Neill’s solicitor advocate, Nigel Jamieson, said: “He is contrite and has some insight into the disgraceful nature of the driving.”

Judge Robert Bartfield said O’Neill had no right to be driving without insurance or supervision.

“You could have killed somebody and I don’t think you realise the seriousness of what you have done,” he said. “The public would be rightly outraged if someone like you, driving like that, was able to get away with it.”

O’Neill was sentenced to eight months’ custody in a young offender institution and banned from driving for two years.