POLICE who stopped a car after an 80mph chase were amazed to discover the driver had no legs.

Double amputee Robert Bate used broom handles strapped to his wrists with duct tape to power his K-reg Vauxhall Astra away from police.

Steering with one hand and using the other to grip the broom handle and push the accelerator or brake, drug-crazed Bate outran a police car in his battered automatic.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the 27-year-old lost both legs in a rail accident when he was stealing coal as a child.

The high-speed pursuit saw Bate overtaking on the wrong side of the road outside an infant school. His two terrified passengers held on for their lives as his car screeched and lurched around country lanes in County Durham.

The chase ended when the amputee lost control and his car crashed off the road, careering through a fence and demolishing a hedgerow before coming to a rest in a field.

The Astra spun out of control on a right-hand bend at the entrance to Murton Moor Farm, at Hetton-le-Hole, Wearside.

Bate was arrested in the field.

Melinda Blackburn, prosecuting, said Bate was high on heroin and cocaine during the chase.

Bate, of Seventh Street, Blackhall, County Durham, admitted dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drink or drugs, driving without a licence, driving without insurance and failing to stop. He was jailed for 12 months and banned for two years.

Ms Blackburn said that police spotted Bate driving north on the B1285 at Hawthorn, near Peterlee, County Durham, on January 26, and gave chase.

He stopped by the side of the road at the Dalton Park roundabout flyover when police activated their sirens and blue lights. But he sped off with his tyres squealing when police got out of their car to speak to him.

He headed towards Murton, almost losing control of his car on a series of blind bends, and forcing other drivers to swerve out of the way.

He overtook a car on a blind bend at Murton Infant School, driving on the wrong side of the road.

Ms Blackburn told the court: "The incident was about three miles in distance and the pursuit was between five and ten minutes.

"As the police car approached the bend, they could no longer see the Astra's tail lights.

"Then the officers saw the car in a field, having crashed through a hedge and fence."

Bate was incoherent but still breathing when police found him - and one of his passengers - beside the wrecked Astra.

Inside the car they found Bate's "Heath Robinsonesque" broomstick apparatus he used for driving.

Nick Cartmell, mitigating, said Bate had suffered terribly since losing his legs while stealing bags of coal from railway wagons as a boy.

A train shunted the trucks when Bate was on board, and he fell onto the tracks.

The coal trucks rolled across his legs, severing them instantly.

Mr Cartmell said: "He was just nine years old when tragedy took everything from him.

"He has a spirit and mind of adventure in a body which cannot meet these expectations.

"He hates to be dependent on others."

Mr Cartmell added: "He has coped in the past on mind-numbing drugs to deal with the difficulties of his life."

He said Bate was sorry for what he had done and was desperate to make a new start in life.

Jailing him, Judge David Hodson said: "This was a vehicle you had, because of your disability, in a Heath Robinson sort of way, adapted to enable you to drive.

"It was a miracle there was nobody injured.

"Cases of this nature inevitably end in custody, particularly when the driver was under the influence and unfit to drive through drugs."