AN Audi A6 driver who tore down the M606 the wrong way has been locked up for three years.

Sullivan Lee, 20, put his foot down on the accelerator to outrun the police because he was wanted as a ‘three strike’ housebreaker, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

He sped off through Brighouse onto the Eastbound M62 at 2.30pm on July 6, swerving across all four lanes and narrowly avoiding several high-speed crashes.

A police patrol unit had spotted that the black Audi was uninsured and notified as ‘off road.’ They gave chase as Lee roared along the hard shoulder at 90mph to undercut other vehicles and then swerved right across the carriageway.

He then cut on to the M606 towards the Chain Bar roundabout, almost causing a smash with a heavy goods vehicle and forcing other road users to take evasive action as he reached 100mph.

Lee exited the motorway at the Euroway Industrial Estate, did a U turn when he reached a dead end and headed back on to the M606, this time going the wrong way.

Prosecutor Paul Canfield said the police abandoned the road pursuit because of the danger to public safety but the force helicopter was tracking the Audi as it set off down Rooley Lane into Bradford on the wrong side of the road.

Lee then crossed back on to the correct side of the carriageway on Wakefield Road before abandoning the car on Busfield Street.

The helicopter crew directed the police to the scene and Lee was apprehended. He was arrested and gave a false name but he was identified from a tattoo on his arm.

Mr Canfield said that West Yorkshire Police wanted to point out that a fatal collision had happened in similar circumstances on the same stretch of motorway just a month earlier.

Lee, recalled to custody and sentenced on a video link to HMP Doncaster, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the M62 Eastbound, the M606, Rooley Lane and Lister Road, Bradford.

He also admitted burgling £3,000 worth of watches and jewellery from a house in Over, Cambridgeshire, on May 23.

He had seven convictions for 22 offences, including house burglaries and dangerous driving, driving uninsured and failing to stop.

Mr Canfield said Lee, of Leicester Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, left his blood at the burglary scene.

The address was attacked when the householders had gone out for two hours in the afternoon, returning to find that intruders had smashed their way in and made a messy search.

Property valued at £3,100 had been taken, including three watches, a silver necklace and earrings. The raiders had also stolen a pillowcase to use as a swag bag.

They helped themselves to some Vanish spray to try to cover their tracks at the point of entry, Mr Canfield said.

Mohammed Rafiq, Lee’s barrister, said he must be realistic about the situation. Custody was inevitable and there was no purpose in adjourning the case for reports.

He said the house was unoccupied at the time during the daylight burglary and an ‘average’ amount of property had been taken.

Lee sped off from the police because he was wanted for the break-in.

He was the father of two young daughters and his mother was in court to support him.

Lee was drinking vodka and taking cannabis at the time and now very sorry for his actions.

Mr Rafiq said the children’s birthdays were coming up so he burgled the house because he had no money.

Judge Jonathan Gibson locked Lee up for two years and five months for the burglary.

He said the dangerous driving on the motorway was so dangerous that the police had to suspend the pursuit, although the helicopter was by then tracking the Audi.

The consequences of a high-speed collision could have been catastrophic, Judge Gibson said.

He locked Lee up for seven months consecutively for the dangerous driving, making a total sentence of three years in a young offender institution.

Lee was banned from driving for three and a half years and he must pass an extended retest to drive legally.