AN INSOMNIAC sparked a high-speed police chase after he went for a drive because he was unable to sleep.

Darren Brooke, 39, was asked to pull over by officers who spotted him driving his red Citroen, in Sunderland, in the early hours of May 21.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard how Brooke refused and soon two police cars and the force helicopter were in pursuit.

Neil Pallister, prosecuting, said it was only when Brooke's vehicle got trapped in a narrow street that the chase came to an end.

Brooke was arrested as he climbed out of the car and said; "I should have stopped, I'm stupid, I could've killed myself."

Brooke, of Hill View Square, Hill View, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Judge Beatrice Bolton sentenced him to a 12-month community order and 190 hours community punishment.

She said: "One night you can't sleep, get up, go out driving and when a police car waves you down you drive in an appalling fashion in a police chase.

"The fact is you could have killed yourself or killed others by this behaviour."