A DRUG addict burglar who subjected a mum and her four-year-old daughter to a terrifying carjacking ordeal as they travelled to school has been jailed for a total of 10 years.

The West Yorkshire mum, who cannot be named to protect her child’s identity, was in a queue of traffic in Bradford Road, Cleckheaton, last September when 33-year-old Scott Brown jumped into the backseat of her VW Polo and brandished a hypodermic syringe towards the youngster who was in a car-seat.

Brown, of Rede Avenue, Fleetwood, Lancashire – who was on his way to Huddersfield – told the petrified mum: “I’ve got a needle. I don’t want to hurt your daughter. I just want you to drive.”

Prosecutor Elyas Patel told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that the woman told Brown not to hurt her daughter and when she asked him what he wanted he again said just drive.

The court heard that two other female drivers, who were caught in the queuing traffic, got out of their cars and approached the Polo and one of them saw the mum shaking uncontrollably.

Brown told one concerned motorist that he was the driver’s brother, but the woman said she would follow the car and advised the mum to pull over when she could.

As the mum turned into Snelsins Road, Brown said he was unclipping the girl from her child seat and when she pulled in about three-quarters of a mile later he told her to get out with her daughter.

The mum took her child out of the car before Brown drove off at speed.

About three hours later a police officer in Lincolnshire spotted the Polo being driven along the A17.

Brown drove off but he was arrested after abandoning the car and being caught by a police dog.

When the car was searched a blood-stained hypodermic with the safety cap on was found under the handbrake.

The court heard that as a result of the incident the child’s mother had lost weight and suffered panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks.

Her daughter had also suffered nightmares following the ordeal.

Brown, who had travelled to Huddersfield to buy drugs, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and kidnapping in relation to the carjacking which took place just a week after he had been released from a four-year prison term for burglary.

The court heard that in the early hours before the carjacking Brown had broken into a house in Cleckheaton while one of the occupants was asleep on the sofa.

Brown, who has family living in the Huddersfield area, later told police that after his companion had abandoned him in West Yorkshire he had panicked and committed the offences to try to get a car.

After the carjacking he said he pulled over in Huddersfield to take some heroin to calm down.

Lawyer Neil Murphy, for Brown, said his client wanted to apologise for his disgraceful behaviour and he submitted that Brown never intended to harm the child of her mother.

Recorder Jeremy Barnett said the carjacking and the earlier burglary had had a devastating effect on the victims and he told Brown that it had been a close run thing as to whether he was sentenced as a dangerous offender.

“It is right you did allow the complainant and her daughter to get out of the car and because of that I draw back from a finding of dangerousness,” he told Brown.

“I have to say it has been a very close run thing indeed because the matters set out in the reports do give me cause for concern.

“As you know this is a serious matter and I hope that you will take from this a warning that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated. The sentence is 10 years.”

The judge explained that he was jailing Brown for four years on the burglary, which he admitted, with an additional six years for the robbery and kidnapping matters.

The judge also ordered that the two women motorists who tried to intervene in the carjacking should receive rewards of £100 each from public funds for their public-spirited conduct.