A FORMER pizza delivery driver who careered through East Lancashire at three times the speed limit in a stolen BMW has been jailed for 18 months.

Mohammed Jamal had been paid £200 to turn up in Burnley and steal the BMW 1 Series, belonging to Ifrat Hussain, from outside her home, the town’s crown court was told.

She had been saying her prayers, in the early hours of June 3, when she heard an engine going outside the property and saw her car had gone, said prosecutor David Clarke.

Jamal was next seen behind the wheel of the BMW on the A56, near Haslingden, by an on-duty police officer, around 5.20am.

Mr Clarke said the BMW was followed along the route as far as Rawtenstall, with the car reaching speeds touching 90mph, in 30mph zones.

In dashboard footage played in court, Jamal was seen to go through red lights on Hud Hey Road in Haslingden and St Mary’s Way, Rawtenstall, during the extended pursuit.

He overtook on the wrong side of the road on numerous occasions, said Mr Clarke, and caused other motorists to pull over.

Travelling out of Rawtenstall and into Crawshawbooth, Jamal came unstuck when he attempted to perform a right turn on Burnley Road.

Mr Clarke said the defendant’s vehicle hit a kerb and the BMW went through a privet hedge before coming to a stop.

Jamal tried to run off and hide but a member of the public alerted police to his hiding place in a nearby garden and he was arrested.

Interviewed by police later, Jamal said he had been given £200 before being driven to Burnley and told which car to steal, by a man he would not name, the court heard.

Robert Elias, defending, said his client had worked as a Domino’s pizza delivery driver and as a courier for Amazon and relied on his driving licence “to put food on the table”.

Jamal, who had a previous conviction for burglary and perverting the course of justice, had panicked when he realised he was being followed, and made a split-second decision to drive off, he told the court.

Mr Elias said it was fortunate, due to the time of day, that there was little traffic on the roads and no-one had been placed in serious danger.

The defendant, 29, of Hereford Street, Oldham, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and theft of a motor vehicle, was also disqualified from driving for 21 months by Judge Sara Dodd.