A banned driver at the wheel of a BMW on cloned plates crashed with a van as he tried to flee a pursuing police car, a court heard.

Andrew Farmer was disqualified from the roads following previous motoring convictions when the BMW he was driving was flagged up as a suspect vehicle to a motor patrol officer in the Durham force area, on the afternoon of December 21, last year.

Durham Crown Court was told the officer went to find the BMW and passed it travelling in the opposite direction and so he turned around and attempted to pursue it, but it sped away and he lost sight on the A688.

The officer set up static observation on a roundabout near to Wheatley Hill and, again, saw the BMW, a short time later.

Read more: Banned driver chased by police on roads through County Durham village

He tried to catch up with it on Wingate Lane, entering Wheatley Hill, when the BMW was travelling at 70-miles per hour, entering a 30-limit zone.

Ian West, prosecuting, said as the BMW entered a slight rise in the road it collided with the rear of a work van, shunting it up the road, on Sandwick Terrace.

Farmer abandoned the BMW and ran off up the road, but members of the public pointed police in the direction he was heading.

He was arrested after being found hiding in a nearby garden, and, when interviewed, conceded driving carelessly, while he was disqualified and without insurance, but he refused to answer further questions.

Mr West said when the 33-year-old defendant, of Dene Terrace, Shotton Colliery, appeared before magistrates the following day, he admitted charges of dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Given limitations in their powers, the magistrates sent the case to be sentenced at the crown court.

Mr West said the driver of the damaged van, which was struck by Farmer’s BMW, suffered painful whiplash injuries which left him unable to drive at what was the busiest time of the year for him work-wise.

The court heard Farmer’s 24 convictions for 55 offences including several for violence, but many for motoring matters, which previously led to prison sentences and driving disqualifications.

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Martin Scarborough, representing Farmer, said he made immediate admissions to both police and at the lower court.

Mr Scarborough said the defendant acquired the vehicle and was in the process of, “doing it up”, when, on the day of the offences, he went to pick up his partner from Houghton-le-Spring and knew he should not have been driving.

“So, when he saw the police car, he foolishly drove away.”

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Mr Scarborough said his client was fit for unpaid work and would be willing to attend rehabilitation activity sessions with the Probation Service, as an alternative to another prison sentence.

But, Judge Jo Kidd said, given his past driving history, the fact he was banned and uninsured, as well as driving on cloned plates were all aggravating features, combined with the manner and speed of his driving, prior to his arrest.

She imposed a 16-month immediate prison sentence and imposed a further driving disqualification of four years and eight months, after which the defendant must pass an extended re-test to lawfully be allowed on the roads in future.