A man took a tractor without consent after a row with his girlfriend and ended up crashing it into a telegraph pole which landed on a parked car.
Leeds Crown Court heard Richard Adam Robinson had been drinking and was a passenger in his girlfriend’s car when they rowed on January 29
Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, said after getting out Robinson made his way to stables on Bradshaw Road, Holmfirth, and climbed a gate to get into the barn area where the tractor was parked.
He drove it out through the closed gates onto the road and on into the centre of Holmfirth where he parked outside Bargain Booze and went inside.
The tractor owner, alerted it was missing, spotted it but before he could stop him Robinson came out of the shop and drove off again on to Woodhead Road.
He then drove into Greenfield Road at speed and lost control, colliding with a wall and the telegraph pole and writing off a Citroen car worth £7,500.
Robinson left the scene but was traced to an address where officers went to arrest him and in a struggle that followed he kicked a female police officer causing her a dead leg and while being put into a police van kicked at another officer, injuring his wrist.
Mr Ahmed said when Robinson arrived at the police station he refused to give a breath specimen.
The court heard he suffers from mental health issues for which he receives medication. He told a probation officer he now realised he should not drink.
Michael Sisson-Pell, representing him, said he had little recollection of the offences but accepted what witnesses said.
“This defendant doesn’t excuse his behaviour in any way,” he said. “When given the opportunity he is a hard worker but accepts he has anger management issues and is very keen and anxious to identify the triggers that affect his mental health.”
Robinson, 22 of Broadlands, Meltham, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, damage, assaulting two police constables and failing to give a specimen.
He was given a total of 11 months in prison suspended for 18 months with 40 rehabilitation requirement days and a three month electronic curfew from 8pm to 6am. He was also banned from driving for two years.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told him if drinking did not agree with his medication he should not be drinking. He had caused considerable damage but he was prepared to give him a chance to see if it was an isolated lapse.
