A MOTORCYCLIST has been jailed after a court heard he knocked down a teenage pedestrian in Shipley leaving her seriously injured seconds after doing a wheelie on his bike.

At the time of the crash in Saltaire Road on April 14 last year Anthony Michael Dutton, 45, had no insurance for the Yamaha motorcycle, no MOT for it and was over the alcohol limit.

He was estimated to be doing about 27mph when he struck 17-year-old Kelly Tait in a part of the road restricted to 20 mph.

Sentencing Dutton, of Fern Hill Mount, Moorhead, Shipley, to 22 months in prison at Leeds Crown Court today, Judge Peter Benson said: “It seems to me when it comes to road traffic offending you are a wholly irresponsible individual.”

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Chloe Hudson prosecuting said traffic on the road was busy about 6pm when other motorists noticed Dutton because of the revving from his motor bike engine.

One, an off-duty fire-fighter was slowing as he approached a pedestrian crossing as he was overtaken by the motor cyclist and said he thought “what an idiot.”

Some estimated him doing as much as 60mph.

He was seen to do a wheelie with his front wheel off the road at a 45 degree angle and the wheel had just dropped to the ground before he struck Miss Tait.

Miss Hudson said Miss Tait’s partner had made it across the road near the Nisa store and she was behind him but did not make it over. Witnesses said they heard the screeching of tyres and Miss Tait flying through the air hitting a parked car.

The motor bike clipped an oncoming car and went into another vehicle leaving Dutton also injured. A blood test taken three hours later resulted in a back calculation of between 84 and 154 milligrammes in 100 millilitres the limit being 80.

Miss Tait, a college student, was treated at the scene before being flown by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary. She had fractures to her right leg, a broken pelvis, a fractured shoulder, injured ribs, spinal damage and bruises and injuries to her face.

She spent two weeks in intensive care at that hospital undergoing surgery to fit metal plates and screws and rods into various fractures before she was moved to Airedale Hospital, Keighley where she was kept until May 14.

Initially at home she was bedridden and needed help with everything and physiotherapy to try to improve her mobility.

She said before the accident she was a “bubbly” and happy person attending college in Bradford three days a week but now suffers mood swings and is limited in what she can do.

Nine months after she was injured she said in a victim impact statement she was still in a lot of pain in her hip and leg, still has to use a crutch and walks with a permanent limp. Her arm movement is still limited and still gets tired easily.

She has lost confidence going out and has had to reduce college attendance to two half days a week with the help of her mother although hopes in the future to gain a child care qualification. Miss Tait said she still suffers flashbacks and shudders whenever she hears a motor cycle.

Miss Hudson said Dutton told police he had been renovating the bike at home and intended to take it for an MOT that afternoon but en route noticed some water dripping and decided to return home.

He did not recall stopping at the pedestrian cross or doing a wheelie. The court heard in May last year after the incident Dutton was disqualified from driving under the totting up provisions by North Cumbria magistrates and was then stopped driving while disqualified in September on the M62 claiming he did not know about his disqualification.

He also had previous motoring offences on his licence including exceeding the speeding limit in 2011 and using a mobile phone at the wheel in 2014.

Rodney Ferm, representing Dutton, said his record did not help him. He appreciated Miss Tait was the biggest loser in what happened and he was remorseful about that but he too was injured and that had caused problems for his family.

“He knows he was the vehicle driver and it was up to him to control it and drive in a safe manner and he just didn’t do that.”

Dutton admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, having no MOT certificate, no insurance and driving with excess alcohol. In addition to the jail term he was disqualified from driving for three years.

Judge Benson told him: “You have a record over the last four years of disregarding road traffic rules.”

He said in April last year he decided take it for a run although he had been drinking on his account the previous evening. At one stage he did a wheelie on the bike whuch was “plainly irresponsible behaviour”.

The judge said Dutton claimed he had not done that deliberately but “it was certainly reckless” however it occurred.

“Riding it in such a fashion was a dangerous manoeuvre,” he told Dutton.

The impact of the collision on his victim was substantial not just physically but psychologically and although Dutton had expressed remorse it had not prevented him driving while disqualified later last year.