A 30-YEAR-OLD driver involved in a 13-mile police pursuit has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Imran Iqbal featured in an Examiner story in 2007 after he was praised by a judge for his public-spirited actions in coming to the aid of a woman who was being assaulted.
But yesterdayanother judge watched a 20-minute DVD of police car footage of his late-night pursuit.
Bradford Crown Court heard how officers wanted to stop the VW Passat Iqbal was driving for a routine check last July, but a passenger in the car with him told Iqbal to drive off because he was wanted on a warrant.
The lengthy DVD footage showed Iqbal reaching what a judge described as “break-neck speed” as he tried to escape the pursuing police vehicle which had its blue lights flashing.
Iqbal had set off along Fleminghouse Lane, Almondbury and continued to drive at speed despite traffic calming measures on residential streets.
Recorder Mark Bury said Iqbal, of Croftlands, Newsome, cut corners, forced a cyclist to take evasive action and caused other motorists to stop or pull over even after his passenger had been dropped off in a back street.
Iqbal, who had been driving the Passat without the owner’s consent and while uninsured, eventually pulled on to a petrol station forecourt where he was arrested.
Recorder Bury was told that Iqbal was remorseful and had recently obtained a job as yard foreman.
The judge was urged to consider an alternative to immediate custody, but Recorder Bury said the driving was so serious only a prison sentence could be justified.
Iqbal, who pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance and without a licence, was banned from driving for 18 months.
He must take an extended test at the end of his ban.
