A DRUG dealer involved in a high speed police chase had his three-week-old baby in the car, a court heard.

Lewis Johnson, who crashed into three vehicles while being chased, then abandoned the vehicle before throwing £3,000 of cocaine into a bin and attempting to run away.

The 24-year-old, of Gray Street North, Bolton, was jailed for four years and one month at Bolton Crown Court after being convicted for the third time of possessing drugs with the intent to supply.

The court heard Johnson had been asked to stop by police in Bury New Road, Prestwich on Thursday, April 9 but raced off at 50mph in a 30mph zone, weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic and periodically driving on the wrong side of the road.

He collided with two vehicles, without causing significant damage, running through several red lights, before clipping a third. Johnson then jumped out of the driver's side of the car, leaving it to roll into some bollards in the middle of the road.

His partner had been sitting next to him throughout the chase, with his three-week-old in a baby seat in the back of the car.

Johnson was then chased by police on foot through the Longfield Centre shops and its car park before throwing a package into a bin. He then walked towards the officers, who drew a taser and he complied with them once they had a red dot fixed on him.

The package contained £3,390 — or 131g — of cocaine when police recovered it.

Judge Graeme Smith said: "As to what you had in the vehicle at the time and what you were doing, you were clearly aware that whatever you had was something you should not have been carrying which is why you sped off when the police tried to stop you.

"You had a three-week old baby in the car and your driving was of a serious risk to other members of the public."

Johnson admitted dangerous driving and possessing a class A drug with the intent to supply.

He was sentenced to 40 months for the drugs charge, with Judge Smith ruling that there were exceptional reasons to deviate from the standard sentence of seven years for a "third strike" drug dealing offence.

Jamie Hamilton, defending, had argued that Johnson's earlier two drug convictions had been committed when he was very young, while he had also found gainful employment in the past and had a long history of cocaine misuse.

Johnson was jailed for six months for dangerous driving, and an extra three months for breaching a suspended sentence, with both terms to be served consecutively.