A JUDGE has said that "no more dangerous drivers" will be tolerated in Bradford as he locked up a man who led police on a four-mile high-speed chase.

Lewis Beaver, 20, was already banned for drug driving when he was seen behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa on Great Horton Road in Bradford on November 25 last year.

Prosecutor Anthony Moore told Bradford Crown Court that police began following Beaver as he made a loop of the Brownroyd Hill Road estate, crashing into another car as he tried to squeeze between the vehicle and a telegraph pole.

Officers put their blue lights on, but Beaver sped off on St Enoch's Road, doing 66mph in a 30mph limit.

The court heard that he drove on the wrong side of the road around a traffic island before ignoring the junction of Carr House Road and Cooper Lane.

The chase continued as Beaver drove the wrong way up Shelf Moor Road, before turning onto a dirt track towards a farm on Shelf Moor.

After reaching a dead end, Beaver and his passengers ditched the vehicle, but he was caught after a brief foot chase.

John Batchelor, mitigating, said Beaver was a "naive" man, who acted as the registered carer for his mother, who the court heard suffers from fibromyalgia.

He said his client, who had formerly lived in Queensbury but had since moved to the village of Ryther, near Tadcaster, had bought the car cheaply with the intention of using it to find work once his 12-month driving ban had expired.

Mr Batchelor said that the court had a "stark choice" as to whether to jail Beaver immediately or impose a suspended sentence with a "very onerous" set of conditions.

He said: "I say with some confidence that he (Beaver) would not trouble these courts again."

But in response, Judge Jonathan Rose told the defendant: "No. No more dangerous drivers. No more citizens put in jeopardy by the sort of driving in which you engaged.

"No more. The message will go out to you and to others, whether they are 20, 40, or 60. No more dangerous drivers."

Referring to his driving ban for being stopped under the influence of cannabis, Judge Rose said: "You had your wake-up call in March last year. But you turned around to the court and said I'm going to drive anyway.

"I'll do that even though the court has told me I cannot do so. That is not naivety, that is criminality.

"You were driving dangerously even before police put on their blue lights. That is an indicator of a young man who thinks roads are places to play.

"This court says no. If you drive dangerously, especially if you are a disqualified driver, it is to custody you will go."

Beaver was ordered to serve ten months in a young offenders institution, and will be banned from driving for two years on his release.