A 31-YEAR-old driver who led police on a 20 mile pursuit, reaching speeds of 100mph and three times the speed limit, has been jailed.

Hassan Sagheer was spotted by police driving at speed shortly before midnight on August 26, 2020, on the A650 in Keighley.

But instead of pulling over when the police vehicle's blue lights were illuminated, the defendant drove at "grossly excessive speeds" towards Farsley, then Bradford city centre before returning to Keighley again.

Bradford Crown Court heard that when Sagheer eventually stopped, he refused to provide a breath sample to police and became very angry, insisting that his driving had not been dangerous and that he didn't care what speed he had been going at in the Toyota Auris.

Sagheer, of Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis, as well as driving without a licence and insurance.

The Recorder of Bradford, Richard Mansell QC jailed him for six months, halving his sentence due to mental health issues he had suffered since being the victim of a stabbing a few years earlier. Sagheer was also banned from driving for three years.

He added: "This was an appalling episode of very determined bad driving," adding that it was lucky he "didn't collide with another vehicle or lose control of the vehicle and kill somebody".

Prosecutor Camille Morland said Sagheer had initially been spotted by police driving the silver Auris on the A650, and had sped off leaving black smoke behind him.

The pursuit lasted 17 minutes and the latter stages involved the police helicopter too.

As well as reaching speeds which were at points more than three times the speed limit, he turned his headlights off, ran through traffic lights on red, went the wrong way round roundabouts, navigated blind bends at speed, and overtook on the wrong side of the road.

He went through Hawksworth village - a 20 mph zone - at 70 mph, and reached his highest speed of 106mph in Pudsey.

Gerald Hendron for Sagheer said "something quite dramatic must have happened" for the married father of two to behave in the way he did that day.

He described the defendant as having mental health issues since he was attacked in 2018 and that he had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and depression since then, as well as having suicidal thoughts.

His family had spent their savings to send him to a treatment facility in Pakistan for three months earlier this year.

"All I can say about the actual driving itself is that mercifully no one was injured."

Judge Mansell said that Sagheer, who had been banned in 2019 for drink and drug driving, would have ordinarily been sentenced to 12 months given his guilty plea.

But because of his personal circumstances he would reduce this.