A DRIVER has been jailed after trying to escape police in a car carrying his eight-month-old daughter.

Jack Bent wept in the dock at Bolton Crown Court as Recorder Craig Sephton QC told him it had been an “appalling piece of driving”.

Adam Lodge, prosecuting, told how, at 7.30pm on January 30, police spotted a black Fiat Punto in Great Lever.

They were so concerned about its condition that they ran checks on it, and finding it had no insurance, put on their police vehicle’s flashing lights and siren to order it to stop.

But, instead of obeying, the driver sped off along Rupert Street, and drove through streets and back alleys in Great Lever.

On two occasions Bent, aged 21, drove past no entry signs.

Mr Lodge added that he continued his drive on to Parkfield Street.

“He tried to turn left and as he did so he came into contact with a parked VW Tiguan,” said Mr Lodge.

Heading past a no-entry sign from Settle Street on to Pennington Road, Bent mounted the pavement in order to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle.

Bent, who also had his partner and brother in the vehicle, pulled up outside his own home in Ainsdale Road, abandoned the Punto and ran inside the house.

Police followed on foot, chasing him over fences through back gardens until he eventually gave himself up, telling them, “I’m so sorry”.

The when officers checked the Punto he had been driving they discovered Bent’s eight-month-old daughter in a car seat in the rear of the vehicle.

Bent admitted to police that he had panicked when they tried to stop him because he knew he was driving illegally.

The father-of-two, whose partner is expecting another baby, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and having no licence or insurance.

Andrew Costello, defending, said: “He accepts his manner of driving was a disgrace.

“He is a young man who is incredibly immature and does not possess the thinking skills that allow him to make the right decisions.”

He stressed that, although Bent has previous convictions, this was the first time he had been before a crown court.

Sentencing Bent to 12 months in prison, Recorder Sephton Q.C. told him he had no alternative

“You were driving in this dangerous fashion despite the fact that your young baby daughter was in the car with you,” he said.

Bent was also banned from driving for two years after which he will have to take an extended driving test.

He also forfeited the Punto, which had been written off and he had bought a few weeks before the offence for £80.