A SPEEDING banned driver, who was so determined to avoid being arrested he almost ran over a terrified police officer, is behind bars.

Prolific crook Benjamin Monks, 20, who already has 110 offences to his name, had a long record for vehicle crime, flouting court orders and for getting behind the wheel while disqualified.

He was just out of jail, was the subject of two driving disqualifications — but had been regularly getting behind the wheel regardless — and was breaching a court order for about the 70th time when he left a trail of fear, injury and damage behind him on the road.

The officer had to leap out of the way to escape being knocked down in what was a ‘very near miss’, Burnley Crown Court was told.

The hearing was told Monks, a father, carried on and ploughed into a taxi, injuring the driver and knocking a wheel off, but managed to get away.

He was detained later.

The defendant, of Westmorland Street, Burnley, had admitted dangerous driving, drivng while disqualified and with no insurance.

He was sent to detention for 15 months, banned for three years and must take an extended retest.

The court heard Monks had been sent to prison for 12 weeks for aggravated vehicle taking, when damage had been caused, last September.

He was 19, not long out of custody, was on supervision, was the subject of two driving bans and hadn't taken a retest ordered by a court, when he committed the latest offences.

He had also been in breach of bail conditions so when police tried to speak to him he tried to get away.

The chase started on foot but Monks then got in a car he had been using regularly despite the fact he was disqualified.

The court was told he had breached court orders on 69 previous occasions and had a conviction for aggravated being carried in a vehicle taken without consent from when he was 15.

Sentencing him, Judge Graham Knowles said: “You were completely heedless of the officer’s safety and the safety of anybody else.”