Hartlepool danger driver raced from police at twice the speed limit and even drove onto a grassed verge and footpath to get away

Officers ran a lunchtime check on Aaron Rowley's Ford Fiesta when they spotted it on Aysgarth Road in Hartlepool and they discovered that it was not insured.

Rowley, 30, who had been given a suspended prison sentence just days before for an attack on his ex- girlfriend, sped off ignoring the police car's blue lights and sirens, said prosecutor Uzma Khan.

He raced through a 30mph zone of houses at 60mph and he drove onto a grassed verge and footpath.

He pretended to stop several times but he drove on until finally abandoning the car and removing his jacket to disguise himself, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Miss Khan said that Rowley was detained after a struggle in which one officer used a restraining spray. He was taken to the police station where he disclosed that he had taken cannabis, cocaine and Temazepam,, which was confirmed when he failed a blood test.

He was in breach of a suspended 18 months jail sentence suspended for 12 months imposed a week earlier for unlawfully wounding his ex-girlfriend when he threw a trainer shoe into her face fracturing an eye socket.

He had also breached an order for 20 days rehabilitation activities, attending on only four days since it was imposed in April last year.

Martin Scarborough, defending, said that Rowley had an issue with drugs and mental health problems, but he had not committed any acts of violence since his last sentence.

He had served the equivalent of three months in custody awaiting sentence, and he was realistic to accept that he was facing immediate custody for the latest offences.

Judge Paul Watson QC told Rowley: "I have got no option but to activate the suspended sentence.

"I am dealing with you first of all because of your wilful refusal to comply with a suspended sentence, you have scarcely complied with any of it.

"The offence of dangerous driving was a particularly poor piece of driving, aggravated by driving on a grassed verge and a footpath was dangerous whether or not there were pedestrians around and you failed to comply with a Give Way sign."

Rowley, of Erskine Road, Hartlepool, who appeared over a videolink from Leeds Prison, was jailed for 10 months and disqualified for 14 months and until he passes an extended test after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on April 11 last year and breach of a suspended jail sentence.

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