A TEENAGE off-road biker who drove at a school headteacher while showing off in front of pupils has been given a chance to prove he has turned his life around.

Shandon Kinsella was seen riding a Honda CR80 motorbike on the playing fields of Almondbury High School in the presence of pupils and teachers.

Prosecutor Neil Clark told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that Kinsella, of Quarmby Road, Longwood, was showing off by driving very fast.

And at one point he drove directly towards headteacher Janet Tolley, swerving a few feet away from her.

A number of police officers attended and later two of them were on Northgate when they saw the bike being driven on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Clark said the machine was again driven towards the officers before heading off in the direction of Lowerhouses.

The court heard that Kinsella, who had been banned from driving only three months earlier, was later found sitting on a wall.

His trainers were muddied and his face and clothing were also mud-spattered.

Kinsella claimed that he had been out walking his dog in the woods and denied riding the bike.

But Mr Clark said the machine, with a still warm engine was found in a shed, and a jacket with it was later found to have Kinsellas DNA on it.

Kinsella accepted owning the bike but continued to claim he had been walking his dog.

The court heard that Kinsella, now 19, eventually admitted the offences of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified when his case was listed for trial last October.

Yesterday his barrister Alasdair Campbell pointed out most of Kinsellas offending took place in 2009 and since then he had completed a supervision order successfully and had met his current partner.

His partner and the supervision order appear to have completely changed his life, said Mr Campbell.

Mr Campbell told Recorder Jeremy Barnett that his client had stayed out of trouble and was not associating with the people he did in 2009.

Recorder Barnett told Kinsella that he had been a thorough nuisance and his behaviour in December 2009 had been awful and disgraceful.

You drove this bike around the school playing fields at the school where there were children out watching. You were showing off, the judge told him.

Fortunately nobody was injured. There was no purpose in this, it was pure bravado.

The judge said Kinsellas guilty pleas and good probation report meant he could impose a community order which would give Kinsella the chance to show that he had turned a corner.

Kinsella will be subject to a community order for the next 12 months and will be under supervision for a year.

He will also have to do 50 hours unpaid work for the community.

Recorder Barnett also banned him from driving for a year and ordered Kinsella to take an extended test at the end of his disqualification period.