A MAN has been jailed for more than five years for threatening two police officers with a loaded sawn-off shotgun during a car chase across Bradford.

Owen Parker, 24, pointed the firearm out of the window of his vehicle as he sped along Allerton Road at 10.45pm on Monday, August 29, last year, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Police constables Daniel Stoker and Toby Lomax-Newton abandoned the pursuit and called in the armed response team, prosecutor Kate Bissett said.

Parker’s Volvo was found abandoned after midnight near Thornton Road, Bradford, and the police recovered the weapon from a wheelie bin on Oak Lane, Manningham. Parker was arrested after his fingerprints were found on the gun and the car.

Miss Bissett said that when armed officers with a police dog apprehended him several days later, Parker told them: “A police dog could not outrun a bullet.”

He then made no comment to police questions. Parker pleaded guilty yesterday to dangerous driving and possession of a firearm with intent to cause PCs Stoker and Lomax-Newton fear of violence.

He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison and banned from driving for 18 months. Miss Bissett said police officers blocked in Parker’s car near Hill Top Fisheries while on the look-out for another Volvo driver reported to have been drinking.

Parker reversed up Hill Top Lane and accelerated off down Allerton Road. He waved the single barrel 12 gauge shotgun out of the car window and then pointed it at the pursuing officers. Miss Bissett said the gun was stolen in a household burglary two months earlier.

Parker, of no fixed address, had previous convictions for aggravated vehicle taking and threatening behaviour. His lawyer, Ashok Khullar, said: “He knows he is facing a substantial custodial sentence today.”

Parker was a father-of-two who worked as a builder. He bought the firearm to protect his family after a gun was fired outside his home during an attempted robbery.

“He made the most foolish decision of his life and acquired a firearm on the black market,” Mr Khullar said. He then panicked and drove around with the gun that night looking for somewhere to throw it away.

The weapon had one cartridge in it and was used to threaten the officers for a brief period only.

Parker’s actions were “stupid and out of character” and he was capable of living a decent and honest life, Mr Khullar said.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Parker: “A sawn-off shotgun has no lawful purpose whatsoever.”

Parker’s decision to buy such a gun was “not foolish, it was criminal.” While driving dangerously, he pointed the weapon at police.

“It was to cause fear to unarmed police officers carrying out their public duty,” the judge said.

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