Banned driver crashes into garden wall after 90mph chase

A disqualified driver who drove at 90mph during a police chase before crashing into a garden wall has been jailed.

Liam Woods was arrested in a nearby garden in Gomersal Hill Top, Kirklees, after attempting to break the rear window of the overturned VW Golf and escape.

“If I knew where I was going I would smoke you out,” the 25-year-old told officers who chased him down Tong Road, Bradford.

Woods, of Kirkdale Crescent, Farnley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance and was earlier sentenced to 16 months in prison at Bradford Crown Court.

Woods was due to be recalled to prison for an earlier dangerous driving conviction at that time.

He ran red lights at 70 mph, hit 90 mph on “narrow, winding” roads, and drove into oncoming traffic, forcing other drivers to turn.

His female passenger managed to get out of the damaged car and landed on its roof after it collided with a garden wall at around 21:30 BST on 5 December.

Sergeant Sam Brown, of West Yorkshire Police, said Woods was driving in a “grossly reckless and dangerous manner”.

“It was just a miracle that no one was seriously injured or killed,” he said.

A bus stop and a telegraph pole were destroyed by the collision.

The court heard how he was jailed for two years and disqualified after causing serious injury by dangerous driving in January 2023.

Judge Jonathan Gibson told Woods via prison video link that he was “clearly a very dangerous individual” while behind the wheel.

He was banned from driving again for two years and eight months and must pass an extended driving test.

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