A “DANGEROUS” driver was jailed for three and a half years by a judge who said it had been remarkable no one was killed during a series of aggressive incidents .

The court heard Christopher Jeffrey Thwaites, 24, of Berrygate Lane, Sharow, near Ripon, deliberately drove at and injured two police officers, stood on his car roof shouting and throwing stones at the rider of a horse he had just narrowly missed, and punched a motorist after tailgating him.

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said his driving also put a grandmother and a young child at risk as they walked along a road, during his spree on roads throughout North Yorkshire.

Thwaites pleaded guilty to four charges of dangerous driving between May and November last year and one charge of assault. Two of the victims told police he smirked and gestured at them as he drove dangerously close to their vehicle.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said: “It is remarkable that no-one lost their lives and, I suspect, given the circumstances, there may well have been more than one fatality. I don’t know what it is that makes you behave like this. The public are entitled to know you are going to be off the road for a considerable period of time.”

Thwaites was also banned from driving for seven years and ordered to take an extended driving test before he drives alone again.

Philip Standfast, representing Thwaites said his client was remorseful.