A JUDGE jailing a “complete menace” on the roads has called for Parliament to increase the two year maximum prison sentence for dangerous drivers.

Locking Jonathan Nudds up for a total of 20 months and banning him from driving for three years and ten months, Judge Robert Bartfield described film footage of the police chase played in court as “horrifying.”

“This case highlights the need for Parliament to allow judges to pass appropriate sentences for people who are a complete menace on the road,” the judge said.

Nudds, 28, of Pasture Walk, Clayton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on December 15, driving while disqualified, failing to provide a specimen, driving while uninsured and possession of a small bag of cocaine.

Prosecutor Anthony Moore told Bradford Crown Court on Monday that Nudds was driving a Fiat Punto that sped away from the police, wheels spinning, and led officers on a 15 minute pursuit from Horsforth to Bradford at 10.35pm.

Nudds, who had three passengers in the car, slid round a bend, went the wrong way round a roundabout and three traffic islands and accelerated off at double the 30mph speed limit.

He eventually crashed into a parked vehicle in Fourlands Drive, Idle.

Mr Moore said Nudds smelt strongly of alcohol and had a bag of cocaine in his pocket.

He said he saw the patrol vehicle and panicked, refusing to answer any more questions asked by the police.

The court heard he had 18 previous convictions for 33 offences, including two for dangerous driving. In August 2017, Nudds was jailed for a total of 30 months, and banned for five years, for offences including dangerous driving, excess alcohol and having no insurance.

His barrister, Abigail Langford, said he had panicked when he saw the police.

No one was injured in the pursuit and Nudds pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

A suspended sentence order would allow him to take part in an alcohol treatment programme run by the probation service.

But Judge Bartfield said the sentence should have been four years imprisonment if Parliament had allowed it.

Nudds had run red lights and crossed to the wrong side of busy roads before driving up a side street and shunting a vehicle into a wall.

If anyone had been walking back from the pub down that street they would have been “consigned to the next world.”

He jailed Nudds for 16 months for dangerous driving, with four months consecutive for driving while disqualified.