A CANNABIS dealer from Radcliffe was caught after leading police on a high speed chase through residential streets.

Justin Hayhoe, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court how the Mercedes driven by Callum Seddon was spotted by police in the Withins Lane area of Bolton at around 1.15am on November 24 last year.

The car was followed and recorded travelling at up to 66mph in 30mph limits around residential streets, some which contained speed bumps during a two minute pursuit.

Mr Hayhoe added: “He abandoned the car and ran off. There was a short pursuit where the officer had to draw his taser to detain the defendant.

“When he was arrested he continued to struggle with the police, causing an officer to fall to the floor, injuring his arm.

“He was saying he was a passenger in the car and not the driver when it was clear he was in the driver’s seat and the officers confirm that there was nobody else in that vehicle."

The court heard that when 25-year-old Seddon was breath tested at the roadside the reading was 66 microgrammes of alcohol on 100ml of breath when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

But when he was asked to repeat the test for the official reading at the police station Seddon did not do so.

“He was given five opportunities to provide a sufficient sample of breath and he failed to do so citing asthma as a reason he couldn’t do that,” said Mr Hayhoe.

When police returned to the Mercedes they found cannabis paraphernalia including snap bags and up to 120g of the drug, worth around £1,000 in the footwell and boot.

The court heard that, three months earlier, Seddon had received a suspended prison sentence for producing cannabis and driving whilst banned.

Seddon, of Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply, dangerous driving, driving while banned, having no insurance and failing to provide a breath specimen.

Dan Gaskell, defending, said the time Seddon has spent in custody on remand is his first taste of prison and has been a “salutary experience” for him.

He added that Seddon had turned to cannabis dealing to help support his own addiction to the drug, which started 12 years ago and had driven that morning because he had had distressing news about his grandmother.

“The vehicle he was driving was not his own,” he stressed.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh sentenced Seddon to 18 months in prison and banned him from driving for three years and nine months. At the end of the driving ban, if he wishes to obtain a licence, he will have to pass an extended retest.