A Lindley motorist has been jailed after he led police on a high speed chase reaching 103mph on the M62.

Leeds Crown Court heard officers first noticed Elliot Bray driving a Vauxhall Corsa at junction 31 around 11.45am on January 21.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said Bray was driving behind the officers and seemed reluctant to overtake them which made them suspicious.

They slowed down and pulled on to the hard shoulder and as he passed signalled to him to pull over but he ignored them and increased his speed.

The officers put on their blue lights and siren and notified other police cars when he failed to stop and reached 103mph.

A number of exits were blocked to him until they reached junction 26 where a stinger was waiting for him to turn off but he did not do so.

At one stage four police vehicles tried to box him in a pincer movement but that also did not work.

He had previously been driving mainly in the third lane but when he began weaving in and out of traffic as they neared Huddersfield a decision was taken because of the increased danger and one of the police cars made contact with the Corsa spinning the vehicle off the carriageway.

Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

Mr Galley said Bray then got out of the car and ran off into some woodland. He was not caught at that time but documents found in the car led to his home address.

Carl Kingsley, representing Bray, said he was on his way back from his girlfriend’s home in Doncaster having recently bought the car. He was fearful of custody and only had a provisional licence. He was due to take his driving test a fortnight later.

Bray, 22 of The Coppice, Lindley, Huddersfield admitted dangerous driving, having no insurance or full licence and was jailed for 10 months. He was also disqualified from driving for 29 months.

Judge Neil Clark told him: “You showed utter disregard for your safety and more importantly the safety of other people on the motorway.

“This is a very serious offence of its type. It seems to me a custodial sentence is inevitable for a pursuit of this length at these speeds on a busy motorway.”