A DANGEROUS driver shouted “I love you mum” as he was led to the cells after being sentenced for driving a quad bike without insurance while disqualified.

Joshua Thompson’s family, watching from the public gallery, cried and groaned when his sentence was read out at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

His defence barrister Colin Buckle told the court; "He comes from a very large, very tight-knit family, but his ADHD means that he makes poor decisions. He buys and sells motorbikes, and there are occasions when he can’t stop himself from driving them."

On March 28 police were on a routine patrol when they spotted the 25-year-old on a quad bike parked outside some shops near his house in Hall i’th’ Wood, prosecutor William Magill told the court.

After seeing the police, he drove off down Winchester Way and Rochester Road before claiming a simple case of mistaken identity when police caught up with him.

Thompson was subject to a suspended sentence from an offence in 2017, where he was caught driving without insurance, driving dangerously, and driving while disqualified.

On April 30, 2017, he was driving a black BMW 116i when a police car pulled alongside him. The defendant sped off and police pursued.

Thompson sped along the wrong side of the road at around 70mph, running red lights and failing to give way.

The chase came to an end when the car’s front wheels locked and Thompson crashed into a central reservation near the roundabout in Waters Meeting Road, narrowly missing a motorcyclist.

Thompson was also convicted of driving while disqualified in November, 2018. At the time he had been on a motorbike in a forecourt near his house when he spotted police and rode away.

At that time, Thompson was given a community order instead of serving his suspended sentence.

Yesterday, Mr Buckle, defending, said: “He’s 25 and he only has this conviction. In March he did not display any driving that could have caused danger to the road users or any pedestrians.“He comes from a very large, very tight-knit family, but his ADHD means that he makes poor decisions.“He buys and sells motorbikes, and there are occasions when he can’t stop himself from driving them.

"His compliance to the community order he has been subject to has been excellent. He has never missed a task or meeting.”

Mr Buckle told the court that Thompson took a bag of personal belongings with him to the preliminary hearing for this offence at Magistrates Court. He requested that magistrates jail him “then and there”, Mr Buckle added, because he believed this breach would result in prison time.

He attended yesterday’s proceedings with a crumpled black shopping bag.

Sentencing, Judge Timothy Stead said: “If it was not for your persistent breaching of the law there would be much more to say for you. I’m afraid you have come to the end of that which the court can give leeway for. I can take no other action than to give a custodial sentence.”

Thompson’s family, watching from the public gallery, cried and groaned when his sentence was read out.

Before leaving the dock, Thompson yelled out to his mother as she wept.

Thompson, of Pimlott Road, was sentenced to at total of eight months' imprisonment ­— six for his suspended sentence, and two for this offence, to be served consecutively.

He will also be disqualified from driving for three years, with an additional four months added to the ban to account for half of his sentence.