A “LUNATIC” driver who tested a Vauxhall Mokka to destruction by taking off over speed bumps in a high speed pursuit around Keighley town centre has been jailed for ten months.

Salvatore Sammarruco’s driving would have frightened even Jeremy Clarkson, the judge told him.

Sammarruco, 48, of no fixed abode, accelerated away from the police in the hire car he was driving for “big money,” Bradford Crown Court heard.

He and his passenger had dropped down in their seats to avoid being seen by the police on the A650 in Bingley at 1.10pm on September 17 last year.

The black Mokka was followed down the Aire Valley Trunk Road to Keighley where it veered across lanes and cut into traffic on Parkwood Street.

When the police sounded their horn and activated the blue lights and siren, Sammarruco sped off at 70mph on the wrong side of the road, prosecutor Paul Nicholson said.

The chase continued through East Parade at 59mph and past the railway station and Asda. The Mokka took off over speed bumps as it accelerated along Parson Street, Lawkholme Lane and Victoria Avenue.

Sammarruco jumped red lights and braked heavily to avoid a high speed collision with a bus, Mr Nicholson said.

He lost control of the car, mounted the kerb and came to a stop. His passenger fled on foot and has never been apprehended.

Sammarruco told the police he had been offered money to drive the hire car and his passenger told him to go faster when the police were on their tail.

He denied that the incident had anything to do with drug dealing.

The Italian national had previous convictions for criminal damage, battery, breach of a non-molestation order, failure to attend court and refusing to take a drug test.

He was in breach of a conditional discharge for battery and on bail at the time.

Mohammed Rafiq, Sammarruco’s barrister, said he had gone off the rails when his marriage of 20 years ended.

His wife had left him for another woman, Mr Rafiq said.

Sammarruco was a factory worker who was offered “big money” to drive the hire car. He was the father of three children and he now wanted to rebuild his life

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, stressed that drivers who ran from the police when the blue lights and sirens were activated would go immediately to jail.

“The message is firm. It will not be deviated from,” he said.

He told Sammarruco: “You drove like a lunatic. You put yourself at risk, your passenger at risk and nearly hit a bus.

“You tested the Mokka to destruction, nearly, in a way that even Jeremy Clarkson would have been frightened to have done.”

Sammarruco was banned from driving for 17 months.