A 39-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for 15 months for leading police on a high speed police chase across Bradford.

Neale Horsfall jumped a red light at 80mph before hitting a wheelie bin and catapulting it into the path of pursuing patrol cars.

He abandoned the Skoda Roomster and fled on foot, later reporting that the car had been stolen in a burglary, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Horsfall, of Annandale View, Queensbury, Bradford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

He was banned from driving for 27 months and until he takes an extended retest.

Prosecutor Graham O'Sullivan said Horsfall sped off from the police at 1.15am on August 2 last year.

He accelerated up Barkerend Road on to Shipley Airedale Road and was clocked doing 70mph in a 30mph limit in Valley Road.

Horsfall was driving without lights when he drove at a police vehicle in Oak Lane, Manningham. Officers braced themselves for a head-on collision but he swerved on to a grass banking to avoid a crash.

The pursuit continued at 60mph along Shay Lane and Haworth Road and the Skoda reached 80mph heading for Duckworth Lane and Allerton Road.

Horsfall managed to evade the police after hitting the bin and knocking it into the path of following patrol cars.

He abandoned the Skoda and a police dog unit was unable to locate him.

Officers were called to a report of a burglary soon afterwards, with Horsfall claiming the Skoda had been stolen.

But an officer recognised him as the driver in the police pursuit.

Horsfall had 17 previous convictions for 29 offences, mostly for dishonesty, the court was told.

He was banned from driving at the time after being convicted of driving with excess alcohol.

Horsfall's barrister Abigal Langford said he had been battling a long-standing drug addiction and had made good progress.

No-one was injured in the pursuit and Horsfall was driving that night because he had to give a lift to someone he could not refuse.

He cared for his poorly grandfather and had no previous convictions for dangerous driving.

But Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: "This was a protracted police pursuit along major arterial roads in the Bradford district."

He told Horsfall: "It was sheer luck that you didn't kill yourself, the pursuing police officers or any third party."