A MAN drove through red lights, on the wrong side of the road and mounted pavements as he was pursued by police at speeds of up to 100mph.

Jonathan Crook, 21, who has never held a driving licence, was jailed yesterday after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance, and driving without a licence at an earlier hearing.

He was arrested after police followed him at high speeds for between seven and ten miles through rural and residential areas of Altham, Accrington, and Clayton-Le-Moors.

The chase took place just after 11am on Sunday, March 9, and the court heard that Crook’s driving had put many pedestrians and other motorists in danger.

In total, officers noted between 20 and 30 instances of illegal driving.

Paul Cummings, for the prosecution, told the hearing at Burnley Crown Court that the incident began when Crook drove past a police car, which was stationary on the opposite carriageway.

The police patrol car, which was recording traffic in Burnley Road, Altham, saw Crook’s white car come over the brow of a hill.

The officer began to follow Crook’s car and signalled for it to stop but instead the defendant speeded up.

The hearing was told the police car reached speeds of between 90 and 100mph as it sought to catch up with him.

In a witness statement the officer said the defendant had travelled at excessive speeds through at least two red lights, through a railway level crossing, and over speed humps.

He said that during the course of the chase Crook had crossed several times onto the wrong side of the road, including blind bends, and had mounted the pavement at times.

The police helicopter was scrambled to assist officers in catching Crook, of Hyndburn Road, Church, who had a string of previous motoring convictions - despite never passing a driving test.

The court was told Crook had been previously convicted of failing to comply with an order to stop, driving without a license, driving without insurance, and driving without due care and attention.

He also had convictions for a range of other offences including assaulting a police officer, production of a controlled class B drug, and being drunk and disorderly.

At the time of his arrest, Crook was subject to a suspended sentence, which was invoked following a further arrest for violence, and the court was told that this had been Crook’s first time in custody.

In mitigation, David Ryan said that Crook was genuinely sorry for his behaviour, and he told the court that nobody had been injured during the chase.

He added that: “No accidents were caused as a result of his admittedly foolish actions.”

But Judge Simon Newell described Crook’s actions as a ‘horrendous piece of bad driving’ and said that he had no option but to hand him a custodial sentence.

Addressing the defendant, he said: “It was by chance rather than design that no-one was hurt.

“This dangerous driving wasn’t a short period of driving, it was at least ten or twelve minutes.

“The areas through which you drove at excessive speed went into residential areas, where there were people, children, parks, cars all about. It was on a Sunday morning.”

Crook was sent to prison for ten months, banned from driving for four years, and ordered to take an extended retest.