A TEENAGER who crashed a stolen Mercedes into parked cars outside a Bradford primary school following a police pursuit has been locked up for three years.

Reece Mahmood, 19, left a trail of damage costing more than £14,000 during the 25-minute chase from outside a city centre nightclub to the Holme Wood estate.

While on bail for that offence, he then acted as part of a gang who stole three cars from a house in Batley and tried to sell them for scrap.

Bradford Crown Court heard that at around noon on March 23, police saw Mahmood, who had been banned from driving the previous month, driving the Mercedes C220 in the city centre with three male passengers inside.

When they noticed the officers following them, Mahmood accelerated away on the A650 towards Bowling, weaving in and out of traffic and failing to give way at various junctions.

After pulling onto Fenby Avenue in Holme Wood, he became stuck behind a red van and was forced to slow down. As the vehicle passed over a speed bump, it was thrown into the air and Mahmood lost control, crashing into the van and then into a number of parked cars.

Despite the air bags deploying, Mahmood carried on driving, careering into more parked cars before coming to a stop outside the entrance to Lower Fields Primary School.

The Mercedes had to be written off at a cost of more than £4,000, and five other vehicles suffered damage worth around £10,400.

Residents described the crash as “one of the worst” they had ever seen on the street.

Less than two weeks after that offence, Mahmood, along with three other co-accused, went to a flat on Manor Way in Batley at around 2am on April 4.

They smashed a rear window of the property and stole a cabinet containing three sets of car keys.

Mahmood used a set of keys to steal a black Vauxhall Vectra and drive it to a location in Dewsbury, where it was later sold as scrap for just £40.

In his police interview, Mahmood, of Calder Road, Ravensthorpe, admitted the offence, telling officers: “We all got excited, it was a fun time.”

He had admitted charges of dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, driving while disqualified, and driving with no licence or insurance at a previous hearing.

Mahmood sat in tears in the dock as Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC sentenced him to three years in a young offender institution.

He told him: “You have clearly got a thrill for taking and driving motorcars, it seems to have become an addiction. Your driving led to a horrendous series of collisions. You could have killed yourself, your friends, and others.

“Then, incredibly, you take part in a planned and sophisticated burglary while on bail. I’m very sorry for your family, they don’t deserve this.”

Mahmood will also be banned from driving for two years on his release.

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