A DRIVER who was involved in a “hair-raising” high speed pursuit with armed police officers has been jailed for 32 months.

A court heard yesterday how the drama began outside the Co-op store in Queensbury when CCTV operators spotted Patrick Ryan putting a long-barrelled air rifle behind the driver’s seat of the Audi A6 he was using.

The vehicle had been stolen several months before the incident in September 2016, but at the time it was bearing false registration plates.

Prosecutor Peter Byrne told Bradford Crown Court that armed response officers were alerted, but when they got to the area Ryan had already driven away in the Audi.

The vehicle was seen again in the Scarlett Heights area, but Ryan accelerated away at speeds up to 70mph in 30mph zones.

Mr Byrne said during the pursuit Ryan, aged 39, drove down the centre of the road causing other motorists to take evasive action and as he drove through the Buttershaw estate he again reached speeds of 70mph despite the presence of traffic calming measures.

On Abb Scott Lane, Bradford, the car mounted the kerb puncturing one of the tyres, but Mr Byrne said Ryan continued “travelling on the rim of the tyre” at speeds up to 60mph.

The court heard that police vehicles eventually managed to box in the Audi, but even then one of them had to ram the car to stop Ryan driving off.

Mr Byrne said the pursuit lasted about 15 minutes and covered a distance of just under seven miles.

Analysis of the air rifle recovered by the officers showed that it was so powerful that Ryan should have had a firearms certificate for it and he was also prohibited from possessing such a weapon due to a previous prison sentence.

During his police interview Ryan, of Woodlark Close, Clayton Heights, Bradford, said the rifle and three other similar weapons in the car all belonged to a teenage boy.

He pleaded guilty to charges of possession of an air rifle without a firearms certificate, possession of a firearm when prohibited and dangerous driving.

Ryan, who had 29 convictions for 75 offences on his criminal record, also admitted being involved in a commercial burglary at premises in Baildon in January this year and taking a Mercedes van without the owner’s consent.

Barrister Nigel Jamieson, for Ryan, submitted that there was nothing sinister about his possession of the air rifle, but he conceded his client had no excuse for driving off in the way he did.

The Recorder of Bradford Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC described the driving as “a high speed hair-raising” chase.

Ryan was sentenced to 14 months in prison for the incident back in September 2016 with an additional 18 months for the burglary at the commercial premises in January.

He was banned from driving for a total of 37 months and ordered to take an extended retest at the end of the disqualification period.